Light in Despair's Darkness
by Avret
Summary: AU, Rational!Naegi. Monokuma was prepared for almost every eventuality. However, he did not realize that hope was not the only mental state that could stand against despair. Note: The current update pace for the fic is 2 chapters a week, though this may vary slightly week to week. Current arc: 4 (9 students left alive counting Enoshima)
1. Prologue

Day ?: Prologue: Pandora's Box reopened:

I jog down the third floor corridor, checking each window as I pass. If any still remain open after 4.5 months of lockdown, I'd be exceptionally surprised for the brief seconds before everyone in the building was killed or converted by Super Duper High School Despair. Hence why I'm checking the windows. I need the exercise anyway, I've noticed that I tire too easily in the physical protection training with Sakura. As I pass by the library, I look in, to see that Togami and Fukawa had, yet again, claimed a large portion of the library as reading space, despite the occasional complaints of the other students.

"Byakuya," I ask, "made any progress on uncovering Despair's leadership yet?"

He scoffs, returning a response which had become routine between us: "No, but I notice that I am confused. Specifically, confused by your continued belief that my actions are not subject to the planning fallacy."

I smirk, and continue to jog. Hearing Togami be humble does wonders for my emotions. The scion was damn near unbearable for the first few months I knew him, until I finally showed him that other people can outperform him in matters of intelligence. It was, admittedly, difficult to do so.

I increase my pace slightly, heading for the data processing room; Fujisaki apparently made major progress on both the FAI and robotics systems, and I'm interested to see his results. I've been told I'll find it unbearably impressive, though both Kirigiri and Oowada sniggered while telling me that. I slow as I approach the staircase leading up to the fourth floor; Enoshima and Ikusaba are sitting on the landing, chatting to each other in low, intent voices. I catch a few hurried snatches of conversation, something about a switch, before they notice I'm there.

"Morning, Naegi!" Enoshima says brightly, "On your way to see Fujisaki's new toys? Or are you just running one of your despairingly boring patrols that Mukuro assures me are tactically necessary?"

"Yes," I reply, "I am. And despairingly boring is a bit of an exaggeration."

She laughs, and it sounds out of place in our grim surroundings. "I guess that answers my question. Tell Kiri and Fujisaki hi for me when you get up there, ok?"

"Certainly. Will either of you be heading up to see his work?"

Ikusaba turns towards me, with a strange, almost sad look on her face as she responds."No, Naegi. And I doubt we'll be able to get to see Chihiro's work for a while, at least the rest of today. We're going to be pretty indisposed. Tell me how it looks when we next meet?"

"Sure," I answer, "But I must admit, I am confused as to what you could possibly be doing for an entire day here. Planning something special?"

Her eyes widen slightly, before narrowing. "What makes you say that, Naegi? Why so suspicious all of a sudden?"

I take a step closer, as I am curious what caused her to react like that. "Is that a serious question, Mukuro? You've known me for, what, 500 days now, and this behavior is unexpected?"

Her expression returns to normal, and she relaxes. "You're right, sorry. I guess I'm just paranoid because of our situation here. I mean, what if Despair gets in? Our windows can't stand up to any serious external assault. And, worse, what if they just nuke the school? We have no antimissile defenses."

'That is a disturbing possibility. With the threat we pose to them, and the sheer disregard they hold for human life, it seems inevitable that they'll come to that idea sooner or later. In fact, why haven't they attacked before now? One would think...wait. I'm missing something here.'

As my thoughts continue on, I realize that I have been silent for the past minute or so, and both Enoshima and Ikusaba are looking at me with concerned expressions. I wave them off, assuring them that I am fine, and head up to the data processing room, still lost in thought. As I get to the top of the stairs, the headmaster bolts out of the door to data processing, barely sparing a glance in my direction. Kirigiri and Fujisaki follow close behind.

I call to them as they pass. "What's going on?"

Kirigiri turns toward me, smiling for a moment before her face turns serious as she answers. "There's been an attempted intrusion. Not much more serious than the last few, but we're checking it out. Looks like the front guns got a few more despair operatives, but there's no sense in not making sure of that. The camera hasn't been providing clear pictures lately, so fujisaki's going to try to upgrade it with hardware from the AV room."

"Then why are all 3 of you going?" I ask, before cutting myself off, "Never mind-too risky to send fujisaki down with your electroID and the headmaster's access key, right?"

"Yes, especially with the possibility that it wasn't just a failed intrusion." She begins to say more, but suddenly collapses with a shriek, pressing a hand to her head. The headmaster and Fujisaki turn at the sound.

"Kirigiri!" I shout, propelling myself to where she lies. "What is this?!"

She gasps, her eyes closing. "They...are...inside...prepare...signal...don't give in...beware...Gemini."

My eyes widen, as she hands me a piece of paper. I take it from her hands, pulling a similar one from my pocket, before putting both in a plastic bag. I then hurriedly store the bag in the side of my cheek, before attaching a false cheek piece made of wax to the spot. As I do so, a clear gas begins to flood from the air vents. My last thought before falling unconscious is to hope, desperately, that the people who have outmaneuvered us don't notice the bulge.


	2. Messages

Part 1: Clear sight can be blinded by tears of despair

Day 00: Messages:

The time is 7:35, 25 minutes before the gates of Hope's Peak Academy are due to open. I've arrived early both to get a feel for the area, and to see if I can start getting to know the other students here at the academy before we are thrown into the thick of things. Out of the supposedly 15 or 16 students in the academy, I have learned about 13 of them, not counting myself; they all have various specialties and talents, whether in areas of the mind, the body, or tricking people into believing in the spirit. And as for me, the Super Duper High School Rationalist? I've written a few papers on decision theory, both standard and timeless, and published an analytical solution to the problem of Roko's Basilisk relating to the fallacy contained within Pascal's wager. I would suspect that I'm going to recognize far, far more people than will recognize me, with the exception of the programmer, Chihiro Fujisaki, who I've met at various AI conferences. For most of the rest I'll be just another face in the background, to be noticed and ignored. And that is exactly what I want; I am not someone to walk in the limelight, as it leaves you unable to see that which lurks around the corner.

As I walk towards the school, I realize that I may have performed my objective a bit too well, and nobody else seems to have arrived.

'Well, this is...not impressively unexpected. May as well wait inside, then.'

While I take my first few steps into the Academy, I catch a glimpse of a teenage girl with longish purple hair walking towards me. Just as I am about to call out to her, the world goes black.

'What. The f***. Was that. I just had a damn mental segfault.'

As I slowly came to, a few things argued over which got my attention. First, there was something in the side of my mouth. Second, I was on a desk, drooling, with a pamphlet next to me. Third, the windows were bolted shut. Finally, there was a rather impressively large ceiling mounted turret in front of me. Oddly enough, the last won, rather handily. After diving behind a table, I noticed that the turret was not, in fact, targeting me. This freed up quite a lot of my mind to concentrate on the next problem:The unidentified object in my mouth, which appeared to be a plastic bag with two papers in it, seemingly hidden by a large amount of colored dental wax. The messages were prefaced with two sets of initials:M.N., which was presumably mine, and K.K., who I did not recognize. I opened mine, and began to read.

"Naegi, if you do not recognize the initials on the other message, we have a problem. A very, very large problem. Firstly, to establish proof of my identity, smorgasbord II on june 7th, at approximately 6 pm. Satisfied? Good. Secondly, my apologies for the vagueness of the information I am about to give you, as we could not risk our opponents getting their hands on this message and gaining valuable intel. Here is what I can tell you: We are fighting an organization known as super duper high school despair. About a year ago, a tragedy occurred which left them in charge of world governments and media. You were part of a group that survived that event. As I do not know under what circumstances you were captured, I cannot give you specific advice, but there are things I can tell you. You should try to stay in the academy;the outside world is not especially safe. The person the other message is meant for, Kyouko Kirigiri(the Super Duper High School Detective), is probably more likely to be trustworthy than others, but do not give anyone your complete trust. Try to find the headmaster if he is not with you. Do not give in to what despair asks of you. And, lastly, do not assume that the memories you have are the memories you once had. SDHSD has been able to induce a condition similar to korsakov's amnesia in its intermediate stages. Good luck."

I raised my eyes from the page, my mind going through a welter of emotions before deciding on determination. This was like any other challenge: surmountable. I just needed to find rules I could loophole around and then I was as good as in charge. I turned towards the pamphlet, on which the words "Orientation in the auditorium!" were written in strange, childish handwriting. As I turned to walk out of the room, I caught a glimpse of the same girl I had seen just before blacking out.

"Hey," I called, "Who are you?"

She turned slowly, almost as if she was surprised to be noticed.

"I am Kyouko Kirigiri. And I presume you are Makoto Naegi, the rationalist? I am familiar with your work." She spoke in a strangely soft voice, with oddly clipped tone, almost sounding artificial.

I immediately reached into my pocket, grasping her message.

"I have a letter for you, Kirigiri. And, if I'm not mistaken, it is also from you."

I handed her the message. As she read it, her eyes widened, then narrowed, her face running through the whole gamut of expressions before finally settling, like mine, into a grim determination. She turned towards me, and asked:

"I don't suppose you have any idea what's going on?"  
"No more than you do, I would assume. Though I would expect that the next few hours are going to change that."

We turned, and strode towards the clamor at the front hallway, where 13 other students stood. Raised voices blended into an indecipherable cacophony. I moved towards a door, and sharply rapped on it, bringing others to silence.

"Hello. My name is Makoto Naegi."

* * *

A/N: The switch to past tense in this chapter is intentional.


	3. Dialogues

A/N: This scene wouldn't write well, for some reason. I hope it came out well in the end!

Chapter 3: Dialogues:

Everyone in the room turned towards me, each person with different expressions on their faces: some displayed curiosity, some incomprehension, a few recognition, and a few merely annoyance at having been brought out of their conversations. I took a moment to remember who had recognized me, and then pushed on.

"Before I get on with what I wished to say, I'd just like to make sure. Did everyone else also pass out when they entered the academy?"

This question, while it met with a few snorts of derision from some, was answered affirmatively by the whole group.

"I thought so. And, based on the massive door lock and the fact that every window I've passed has been bolted shut, it doesn't seem likely that we will be leaving the academy any time soon. If, in fact, that is where we are."

An athletic looking teen with red hair cut me off there.

"Whaddaya mean, if? We passed out, and woke up here! The hallways and rooms are all the same!"

I sighed. Clearly, this student wasn't picked out for his observational skills.

"So, if this is the same building, how did all of the bolts and locks get here? Based on the time I was out, which, admittedly, is based on a modifiable clock, they were put here in 50 minutes. With no traces of their construction or tools lying around, you'd have to agree that that's more than a little bit unrealistic."

He opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it again, clearly confused.

"Anyway, if there are to be no more...interruptions, I may as well get on with what I intended to say. As of now, I believe we have three priorities. Find if there are any security weaknesses, make contact with the outside world, and find out what happened to us. I have it on good authority from a very trustworthy source that this may be the result of an attack by an outside organization."

As I said that, I noticed something strange: The expression of the Super Duper High School supermodel, Junko Enoshima, had stiffened. Come to think of it, her face looked weird, somehow different from images I had seen while researching students. I marked that issue mentally for future examination.

A voice broke into my thoughts, coming from a black haired, red eyed teen in a regimented military uniform. "Master Naegi! We cannot spend time on these frivolous pursuits! We must go to orientation! This seeming rule flouting does not belong in a school environment!"

I turned and grinned, before realizing that this was actually a serious statement. Of course, this was the SDHS prefect. This response would have to be made carefully.

"Firstly, you are Kiyotaka Ishimaru, are you not?"

He nodded firmly, his intense expression seemingly boring its way into my skull. I steeled myself before continuing.

"Secondly, I am a rationalist. I do not underestimate the importance of following rules. However, when the notes directing us to orientation are written in crayon, the school we are at seemingly drugs us upon entry, and there is not a wink of staff or teachers to be seen, you must agree that we are no longer in a typical school environment."

He looked unsatisfied, but did not respond. Perhaps I could have been more delicate, but I've never gotten the hang of massaging people's egos.

"However, since we do not know the psyche of our captors, I would agree that getting to orientation soon is better than getting there later. I prefer being on time and alive to being late and, well, late. Anyway, I've said my piece."

I stepped back from where I was standing, and moved towards the group of people. I may as well meet my fellow seeming prisoners. Kirigiri splits off from my side, walking to a corner near the door. As I walked, Chihiro Fujisaki approached me; I'm not really surprised, as it must be reassuring to her to see a familiar face among the rest of the unknowns.

"H-hello, Naegi. How a-are you?" She asked, in a soft, mousy voice.

"I am well, Fujisaki, though I am slightly concerned about this predicament. I must ask you though-did you find a message on your person immediately after waking?"

Her eyes quavered as she answered. "N-no, Naegi. I'm r-r-really sorry, but I didn't have one." As she said this, her shoulders shook, and she looked near tears.

I quickly responded, hoping to prevent her from unnecessary emotion. "No, Fujisaki, its entirely fine, don't worry. I was just curious." She looked somewhat relieved at this, but still not entirely satisfied. Before I could continue speaking, I was accosted by a blond boy who looked like he had spent more than the income of a small country on his wardrobe. He looked exceptionally annoyed with me.

"Why do you think you have the authority to order me around, you plebeian scum? What gives you the right to tell me, Byakuya Togami, what to do?"

I calmly stared him down as I responded. "Well, Togami, unless our imprisonment is exceptionally badly secured, we have no access to anything from the outside world. In here, your power, money, everything that makes you better than these 'plebeian scum' is missing. So, if you think that you are more intelligent than me, or you have a better idea about getting out, then prove it, and I will stand aside. Otherwise, get out of my face, now. Before I show you exactly why it is a bad idea to mess with a well-trained rationalist."

His eyes widened, and his mouth set into a grim line. He looked at me as if seeing me anew, and the temperature in the room seemed to drop as he replied.

"So, you feel I have no power here, 'rationalist'? Are you certain that you want to turn me against you? I am a dangerous enemy to have. And I will not let you off lightly if you continue down this path."

I realized, quickly, that this situation needed to be fixed, before the entire group fractured. I'd only get one shot at this.

"I do not wish for us to be enemies, Togami. And while I accept that this...situation is unpalatable for you, I would offer this compromise: do what you wish to attempt to escape, but do not interfere with my efforts, and I will not interfere with yours. There is no reason to add internal strife to our list of problems."

He looked somewhat mollified, and his reply was slightly less cold.

"An uneasy peace it is then. Naegi, was it?"

"Yes. One question: Did you find a message on your person immediately after waking?"

He looked surprised and curious as he responded.

"No. Did you?"

"I believe you already know the answer to that. What it said, and who it was from, are two questions I'm not quite prepared to answer just yet."

As he began to ask another question, the tv recessed in the wall lit up, and a voice started playing over the speakers.

* * *

Chapter 4: Announcements coming soon, to be followed by chapter 5: Challenges

Please review!(As this is my first fic, I'd appreciate any help I can get.)


	4. Announcements

Note: All lines from monokuma that seem directly quoted probably are. Also, the school rules are quoted. All other lines are completely my own conception.

Chapter 4: Announcements:

The television screen was filled with static, which faded away after a few seconds to reveal a teddy bear whose skin seemed to be a living reconstruction of a yin yang, minus a few small details. He began to talk, seemingly without moving his mouth.

"**Good morning, you little bastards!...I mean students. Anyway, while I'm certain you must be so delightfully curious about your little imprisonment issue, as students of this illustrious academy, you all have obligations to your school. Namely, getting to orientation before your enrollment in this academy is abruptly terminated. I'll be glad to answer your questions there...upupupupupu..."** The bear trailed off into ominous laughter.

The teens in the room, including me, looked up; near identical expressions of confusion were present on all of our faces. And, slowly but surely, we began to walk towards the auditorium, taking the first steps into a new world that nobody was prepared for.

As we stepped into the auditorium, the same bear launched up from behind the podium, landing on it in a crosslegged sitting position. It was then that I noticed that his red, glowing eye seemed to be pulsing in time with my heartbeat. This was...creepy, to say the least. Before I could think about it, the bear launched into a clearly pre-practiced speech.

"**Hey there, howdy, hello! Is everyone here? Good! Then let's get things rolling! I... am... Monokuma! And I am this schoool's headmaster! As I'm sure you've all already noticed, you are all trapped here! This is not an accident. It is also not something you are going to change any time soon. The only way to escape is by...Graduation!" **

Here he paused, clearly expecting a question. And he was not disappointed. After about 35 seconds, the SDHS Outlaw Biker cut in, clearly annoyed.

"Get on with it, ya bear bastard! What the f***'s graduation?!"

"**I am so beary, beary glad you asked! The only way to graduate from this academy is by killing a fellow student! But that's not all-if your crime is found out, you'll fail, and nobody wants that, do they. So, get on with it, the day isn't getting any younger, and the weak, squishy bodies of your fellows aren't getting any more mortal!"**

After he stopped talking, the room was left in dead silence. I could hear the fearful breaths of the people surrounding me. Something about that speech didn't sit right with me, so I had to ask about it. I stepped forward, and monokuma immediately turned towards me.

"Monokuma, I have a quick question: what did you mean by 'found out'?"

"**What do you think I meant by it? There's gonna be a trial, of course! And if the correct murderer is convicted, well, then he or she's *REDACTED FOR SPOILERS*. I can't give everything away, that just ruins the fu~un!"**

A plan began to form in my mind, but it still needed a lot of refinement. It seemed that this school would be quite a bit more interesting than I was anticipating.

Monokuma then stood up, seemingly giving up on any more questions being asked.

"**If that's all you guys wanted to say, then leave. Don't forget your electroIDs!" **As he said that, he pulled out 15 cards, one which he threw to each of us. As I caught mine, it lit up, displaying my name and face, as well as tabs saying "Rules", "Report Cards", and "Map".

"**Don't lose those! They're extremely important!"**

Having said that, he turned and leapt off of the podium, seemingly vanishing. The auditorium behind him burst into conversation and cacophony. I turned away-I had more important things to deal with. Namely, the school rules. I pressed the tab on my electroID, and began to read.

"**School Rules:**

The students will live inside the school walls. There is no time limit as to how long they can stay there.

The time between 10pm and 7am is called "Night Time." During the 'night', there are several places that a character should not trespass on. Namely, the cafeteria and janitorial rooms, which will be locked.

All students should sleep in the designated rooms in the dormitory area. Students found willingly sleeping in other places will be punished.

You may investigate the school however you want, as there are no special restrictions on your actions.

You cannot harm the school's headmaster, Monokuma, nor can you destroy any of the surveillance cameras.

A "culprit" who kills a fellow student will graduate, but only if they can convince the other students that they are not the culprit. If the culprit succeeds, the culprit can leave, however, as punishment, all the other students will be killed in the culprit's place. If the culprit is proven guilty, however, the culprit will be rightfully executed.

After three people or more discover a dead body, a "body discovery announcement" shall be made so everyone knows of the death.

Rules can be added to this list, but no rule may directly contradict an earlier one. However, rules may indirectly contradict each other."

I pulled myself away from the rules, with a smile on my face that quickly turned into an evil grin. I was going to own this school. On the other hand, first I needed to make sure nobody died before I could complete my plans. I stepped back into the conversation, which was currently reaching the apex of fearfulness. I raised my voice to a level I was confident would get people's attention.  
"If I could get your attention for a brief second?" The conversation gradually quieted, and people turned towards me.  
"Thank you. Now, as I'm sure you would all agree, we would all prefer getting out of here without dying. Therefore, I would propose a plan. One caveat: this plan would require multiple people to sleep in the same room, and I cannot guarantee that the gender divisions will be total. Is that amenable to everyone?" People nodded their assent, some clearly annoyed or partly unwilling but recognizing the necessity for survival.  
"Good. Now, here is what I propose. The school rules say that we must sleep in dormitories, but do not specify our own. Therefore, I would suggest a 3 person watch system per room, where 2 people are awake at any given time. This does slightly reduce the amount of time spent sleeping, but it isn't likely that we'll have much of a need to get up in the mornings. If at any point a person is found dead after the night time, the two watchers will be the first suspected. Hopefully, they'll be able to provide evidence of the real killer if it was not them who committed the crime. You may pick your own watch partners, just make sure a few people know who they are."

People divided into groups immediately, looking for partners. I didn't much care who mine were, so I decided just to wait for two who were left over. As they dispersed, Kirigiri came up to me.  
"Naegi, I'm going to reconnoiter the school and determine the extent of our imprisonment and the tools we have. Care to come with me?"  
"My thanks for the offer, but I feel I'd discover more looking on my own. Meet in the cafeteria in half an hour?"  
"Certainly." Our business concluded, we split up, hunting for some secret that could be the key to saving us from this prison.

* * *

A/N: Whew! Longest chapter yet. Anyway, stuff's started to heat up, and its only a matter of time til the first person dies. Anyone care to guess what Naegi is planning?


	5. Deductions

A/N: My apologies for mixing up auditorium and gymnasium: I'll try to avoid it from now on.

Chapter V: Deductions:

I left the gymnasium feeling more confident than I had since the day I got into Hope's Peak; for the first time this whole day, I had a strategy. Now, all I needed was an opportune time to use it. Sadly, the only way to get said opportune time was to cause a murder, and I wasn't quite that desperate to escape yet. In fact, I doubted I'd ever be that desperate, especially since I was very, very familiar with the effects of Moore's law, and if this didn't work the first time, Monokuma would definitely stop it before I could try again.

As I exited the gymnasium, I came first to the trophy room. After examining the walls and trophies for some time, I came to one near certain conclusion: either this was a real school at some point and for quite some time, or somebody spent a massive amount of time and resources to make it that way. Coming out of the trophy room, I turned down the hallways, walking towards the restrooms. I slowed next to the women's, but decided I could count on Kirigiri to do that bit of reconnaissance; the extra bits of information I might be able to glean weren't worth it, especially since Kirigiri's talent meant that I would almost certainly be hard-pressed to find anything she missed. I then entered the boys' restroom, to discover something very, very interesting: there was no surveillance. Nary a camera existed on those walls. This was extremely suggestive of one of two things: either Monokuma and those behind him showed remarkable restraint given their earlier clear lack of traditional morality, or, even more unexpected, someone besides him and the so called despair planted those cameras. Gears in my mind began to turn as I recalled the message I received more precisely. Could it be that this school was our stronghold? If so, how was it penetrated, and why were we still alive? More to the point, how could I test this hypothesis? Asking Monokuma would reveal that I had outside information, and I wasn't going to do that until I had enough to make a serious grab for control, which even my current plan wouldn't provide.

My mind abuzz with thoughts, I headed out of the restroom, making a beeline for the barred stairwell. Sadly, the designers of the bars were intelligent enough not to leave any openings to its locks or mechanical workings, and I assumed that they were operated electronically, which was not an avenue I could easily interfere with. I then proceeded to the hospital in the middle of the hallway. Shockingly, this hospital looked less like a typical boarding school nurse's office and more like a fully fledged military installment, full of modern medical technology rather than dusty boxes of pills. This also seemed like evidence for the school having been a stronghold, though this evidence was not as strong-this equipment could have come from an SDHS Doctor or hospital technician and been there prior to the "event" mentioned in the message, whatever that was.

I next headed to the school store, which contained nothing impressively interesting beyond the usual machines full of purchase-able knickknacks; however, these looked to contain a rather larger assortment than traditional versions.

Having already closely examined the entrance hall while I first conversed with the other students, I proceeded to the A/V room, where I beheld something I had never expected to see. A room, full of row after row of monitors, each of which looked to be easy to cannibalize for parts. I even saw hardware that seemed to be specifically designed to modify security cameras in the corner of the room. Quickly looking at the school rules, I realized with not insignificant glee that rule 5 only forbade destroying security cameras, and not modifying them. This was, to say the least, exciting; now, because of the incredible leniency given in rule 4, I could detonate an EMP in the school and as long as the cameras themselves were unharmed, I would be unpunishable. I didn't plan to detonate an EMP. Yet. But it was still nice to know that if I ever felt I needed to, the tools for doing so were at my disposal.

Sporting a large grin on my face, I went to the last unique-looking room on the floor: the room marked only with a monokuma face on my map. As I approached, Monokuma appeared in front of me.

"**I see you've found the class trial room-this is where the real fun happens! Here's where you guys figure out who the real killer is, when there is one! And don't worry, there will be one. Upupupupupu..."**

After saying those words, he vanished as suddenly as he had appeared. I walked forward to try the door, only to find that it was locked. It would seem that that door only opens when the room inside it is needed. I took a cursory look inside the classrooms, only to find that the one I had fallen asleep in and the other one looked exactly identical.

As I walked towards the dormitory side of the school, Kirigiri waved me over. As I approached her, I noticed that her composure seemed to be wavering slightly. It would seem that she discovered something interesting as well. As I came close to her, she immediately began to speak in a low, clear whisper.

"Naegi, I examined the whole of the dormitory area, beyond the rooms I couldn't access. There were no cameras in the bathroom or the changing room, but there are in our rooms." As she said this last, she looked intently at me, surprised to see me basically unfazed.

I responded, in the same low, clear tone.

"There were no cameras in the bathrooms that I checked either. Its suggestive, but I can't say of what, lest our speaking not be as secure as we assume it is. And while we do have a place to speak unobserved, keeping it from looking suspicious when we vanish into a bathroom for some time is something that would take at least a few days of preparation and social posturing."

She nodded at this, and began to speak again.

"In terms of survival necessities, both the kitchen and storage rooms are well stocked. The knives in the kitchen are sharp and well balanced, and we'll need to set up some kind of system for guarding them. There is a trash disposal system that requires a special electroID to access, and I heard Oowada mentioning a janitorial position, so I would presume he has said access. Finally, the room marked with my nameplate contained a sewing kit and helpful instructions for killing someone with it."

I nodded, taking the information in and cataloguing it before I replied.

"As for me, the aforementioned cameras missing from the bathroom, first of all. Secondly, the hospital was well equipped to an extreme, almost as if someone was preparing to fight a war there. Also, the bar mechanisms on the stairwells are electronically locked, and I won't be able to circumvent them without special preparations. Finally, the A/V room holds an amazing stockpile of electronic equipment, and I'm confident that I can rig up almost anything I need with Fujisaki's help."

Her eyes widened slightly, and her mouth quirked up as she responded.

"So we do have a chance, then. At least more of one than we did before."

I smirked as I heard that.

"Kirigiri, we have a lot more than just a chance. I have a plan. However, we definitely need to be out of camera range before discussing that, or the missives we both recieved. Shall we begin planting the necessary seeds for the ability to leave camera visibility?"

Her eyes again slightly widened, and her cheeks briefly colored before she nodded her assent. We turned and walked into the cafeteria, where everyone else already was, as I put on a smile that I didn't have to feign. For, although Monokuma didn't know it, I was coming for him. And one doesn't simply imprison a rationalist.

Almost as if he heard my thought, the bear popped up near the center cafeteria table.

"**Oy! Why am I not being entertained by the spectacle of teenage murder?!" **

* * *

A/N: If people are wondering about the changed chapter name, its because several dialogue events I had planned to include really didn't fit with other characters' personalities.

So, the next chapter should be Motives, followed by...well, that would be telling. I decided to get this chapter done now rather than waiting til tomorrow to write it because I was pleasantly surprised by the positive responses I got to this.

Motives, if it does not get put out tomorrow, should(hopefully) be out by monday, unless it takes a lot longer to write than I've anticipated. I would expect that Arc 1 will conclude by mid to late september if not earlier, after which there may be a slight slowdown so I can plan arc 2.

Please review, and PM me if you have any questions/guesses you'd like to share. Be warned, I may not give clear answers.


	6. Motives

Chapter VI: Motives:

As the room fell into a dead silence, Monokuma continued.

"**You kiddies should be at each other's damn throats right now, not being all buddy buddy! And now you are agreeing to set up watches! Damn it, I'm losing my touch! Anyway, I've tired of this boring situation, and I want blood. So, I'm going to get it. Go to the A/V room now, and view the DVD marked with your names, or I'm going to start executing people."**

The other students and I quickly followed his instructions, entering the A/V room. As we did so, I caught sight of the DVD with my name on it, next to a monitor slightly to the left of the door. I inserted the DVD, and Monokuma appeared on screen.

"**Now, Naegi, I'd like to make you an extra special offer, which I am certain will tempt you. Before doing so, I'd just like to ask you a question: besides a couple of exceptions, why do you actually care what happens to these people? They are irrational, unintelligent, and all in all the kind of useless cannon fodder you can find for a dime a dozen on the streets! Why are you trying to save them? Now, before you start to say that you are fighting for the few, I know that. That's why I'd like to offer you an unusual motive: one that will last the entire length of your incarceration. I call it 3 for 1. From now on, if you successfully pull off a murder, I will not only allow you to escape, but I'll let you pick two more people of your choice to take with you! That's right, 2 more! You can save 20% of the people in this game if you just give in! But remember Naegi, the longer you wait, the more likely it is that one of your friends has an...unfortunate accident, or that I decide to change my mind about my extraordinary generosity. So don't let this offer pass you by!"**

After that, the screen flickered off, leaving me shaken and uncertain. The disk fell from my shaking hands before I managed to bring my mind back under control. This murder was not worth it, especially since I could save everyone if my plan worked. So I could think about this problem later. I could feel the voice in my mind screaming that I was avoiding the question, and that I needed to look into the darkness of my thoughts and not shy away from them, but it was silenced by the sheer volume of emotions I had at the moment.

Kirigiri turned her head at the sound of the disk hitting the ground, a concerned look on her face. I waved her off, and signaled to her that we'd talk later. I noticed that she herself was trembling slightly, and many students around the room were struggling to hold back tears: clearly, Monokuma knew exactly what he was doing with this incentive. However, I'd assume that not everyone saw the same type of video as me, as it would not have affected them to such a degree. As I watched, students began to file out of the room, all clearly disoriented and confused. I began to speak, my words clearly interrupting some of their reveries.

"I know you must all be scared or concerned, but don't let that affect your ability to think. Doing that is exactly what Monokuma wants. So, find or pick your watch partners, and try to stay with them as often as possible, at least until this first threat blows over. This just makes not murdering more difficult, not impossible." As I spoke, I reflected that the words I was saying were as much for myself as for anyone else.

The other students nodded and split into groups of three that looked prearranged. Kirigiri and Fujisaki walked over to me, presumably for the purpose of room sharing. I nodded my assent at their implied proposal, and followed up with the question that had been on my mind since I saw the DVD.

"Were either of your DVDs offers from Monokuma?"

They both shook their heads, and Kirigiri responded.

"No, mine was a threat to people I cared about, namely, my grandfather. Fujisaki, was yours a threat as well?"

Fujisaki nodded, suddenly looking afraid; it was as if Kirigiri's mentioning the DVD brought her back to thinking about said threat.

"Odd," I responded, "It would seem that Monokuma is following a slightly different tack with me. The bear appealed to my senses of superiority and elitism. He offered me my choice of two others to save if I committed a murder and got away with it, and made the offer permanent. Which means if I can survive until there are 4 people left, if the game gets that far, I can save everyone at the cost of one person."

Fujisaki's eyes widened and she looked even more concerned.

"N-naegi, you shouldn't be thinking about killing someone innocent to save two p-people. It-it isn't worth it. We c-can still escape."

I nodded, and she seemed to relax slightly.

"Now, on a slightly lighter note, whose room are we using for the watch? I don't know if it particularly matters, but I'd like to know now so we can begin moving furniture around."

"Probably mine," Kirigiri responded, "It's closest to the hallway entrance, so we can also keep track of the other students' movements at night. Except for those going to the trash room, but that wasn't happening in any case."

Fujisaki and I nodded, and both of us went to our rooms to collect our belongings before bringing them to Kirigiri's room. As I dropped off the tool kit Monokuma had so thoughtfully provided me with, I turned to Fujisaki.

"Did you notice all of the hardware in the A/V room, Fujisaki?"

She nodded, before replying.

"Y-yes. Some of the camera tools looked s-strangely familiar, and I felt like I needed them for something h-having to do with the front hall."

This struck me for a second. Why would she have needed the camera repair tools? Unless...Despair had done something to our memories, but done it imperfectly, and we had planted the cameras. This matched the information in the message, as well as the curious lack of cameras in the bathrooms to some extent. But some things still didn't make sense. What were so important about those 50 minutes of memory? How had I gotten my hands on wax to send the information? And how on earth had we planted cameras and bolted all of the windows in 50 minutes?! I noticed my own confusion, and that could only mean one thing: one of my fundamental assumptions was incorrect. I'd need to look into this problem more closely.

These thoughts occupied a large portion of my night, filling my mind even while I made easy conversation with the other students through dinner, which I mainly occupied by discussing the virtues of rationalist literature with Touko Fukawa. It was rather difficult to keep up a conversation with her, as she seemed to suspect that any social activity was a trap.

After a mostly uneventful meal, I returned to Kirigiri's room. We agreed that I would sleep third watch, Kirigiri would sleep second, and Fujisaki would sleep first. When it came time for the third watch, I tried to sleep, tossing and turning fitfully for an hour or so before giving up. I eventually decided that my insomnia was caused by my still having the message that I had sent myself. After memorizing the message, I told Kirigiri and Fujisaki to look for me if I wasn't back within half an hour, and set off to wake Oowada and ask him to open the trash room for me. As I walked towards his room(I had seen him and his compatriots enter that room before I went into Kirigiri's), I noticed him standing near the trash room doors, holding a piece of paper.

As I walked towards him, I saw him look up, his eyes widening. Then I felt a brief pinprick in the back of my neck, followed by a brief glimpse of black hair, and then nothingness.

* * *

And the fun begins! Now, while I'm sure many of you can figure out the culprit, especially with the clues you guys are going to get next chapter, know this. This trial is not about the murder, at least not anymore. There's quite a bit more riding on it. Chapter 7, Murders, coming soon, to be followed by chapter 8, Lives(this title is subject to change). Chapters 9 and ten should be the climax and denouement of this arc respectively.

Please review!


	7. Murders

Chapter VII: Murders

I slowly came to some time later, my vision resolving from a blurry mess of color into two people: Kirigiri shaking me by the shoulders, looking concerned, and Fujisaki standing guard a few feet further down the hallway. I then noticed that I was holding a bloody needle that had definitely not been in my hands before I was knocked unconscious. As my eyes opened, Kirigiri let out a sigh of relief, and immediately launched into questions.

"Do you recall anything about who knocked you out? Why are you holding a needle? Did you see who took down Oowada?"

I took a moment to clear my head before answering; whatever pressure point my mysterious assailant had used to take me down, it had left me a bit woozy.

"I will answer your questions in the order you asked them. Firstly, all I can recall is that they had somewhat long black hair. Secondly, I am not entirely sure, but I believe that I was knocked out with it. The blood on the needle and the fact that I can feel a bit of blood on my neck, as well as my last sensation before knockout having been a pinprick on my neck both point to that. As for the last, I had only barely caught sight of Oowada before I was knocked out. What happened to him?"

Kirigiri mutely pointed to a body that lay just inside the trash room: Oowada was facedown and presumably dead, with a blue thread wrapped tightly around his throat. Just as I fully perceived this, the TVs in the hallway simultaneously lit, and Monokuma appeared on the screens.

"**Looks like one of you little kiddies finally had the cojones to bring an end to another one! And I say, about damn time! Now comes phase two of our wonderful school year: Investigation! You'll have a few hours to find out everything you can about the dastardly villain and the helpless victim, after which we come to the first climax of our spectacularly despair-inducing time here: the Class Trial! You'll find your first hints in your electroIDs! So use your time wisely, students, because you'll almost certainly need it!"**

After those annoyingly unenlightening words, the screens shut down. It would seem that was the 'Corpse Discovery Announcement' mentioned in the rules. I turned to Kirigiri and Fujisaki, before saying what I was certain both of them were thinking.

"Well, it seems the best course of action to do what he says. Meet up in half an hour to compare conclusions?"

They both nodded, and we began our investigation into the first, and hopefully last murder of our time in this academy.

I first looked at my electroID, and saw that a new tab had appeared, labeled 'Monokuma Files'. I opened the tab and the only file contained therein, and began reading.

"**Monokuma File 1: **

Victim: Mondo Oowada

Time of death: 4:30 am

Cause of death: Strangulation, caused by blue thread found around victim's neck.

Miscellaneous: The victim was found inside the trash room. The victim also had a few small cuts and scrapes on the rest of his body, but the wounds do not match the pattern of traditional defensive wounds."

After reading the file, I immediately went to the body and confirmed what observations I could, since it made no sense to trust someone who had already indicated that they didn't much care whether you lived or died. Besides the unconfirmable time of death, everything in the file seemed to be true. Interestingly, one of the wounds on the body was a pinprick on the back of the neck that seemed similar to the wound I had received, and it looked to have bled quite a bit. Another wound on his hand looked like a papercut, presumably from the paper I saw him holding prior to being knocked out. I noticed that the expression on Oowada's face seemed to be one of surprise rather than fear, and also something...protective? Strange.

After examining the corpse, I proceeded to the next most important piece of the puzzle: determining the identity of the thread's owner. I walked over to Kirigiri, who was examining a few scraps of something she found near the incinerator.

"Hey, Kirigiri, what color was the thread you received from Monokuma?"

"Black. And my needle was also a slightly different size."

I thanked her, and proceeded to find Fujisaki, who was a ways down the hallway by this point.

"Hey, Fujisaki, what color was the thread you received from Monokuma?"

She visibly blushed and hesitated, clearly undergoing some kind of internal conflict, before she eventually decided to respond.

"N-naegi, I didn't g-get a sewing kit. I got a t-toolbox. I'm s-sorry for lying to you!" As she, or, rather, he, said this last, he looked on the verge of tears. This was clearly a deep-seated issue for him.

"No, Fujisaki, I am completely fine with you keeping this from me, and I presume you had perfectly good reasons for doing so."

He brightened slightly, before shrinking into himself as he asked another question.

"You-you don't think I'm weak?"

My eyes widened slightly; it seemed this was the reason for his lack of self confidence. I clearly needed to tread extremely carefully with my next words.

"No, Fujisaki, I do not. In fact, I feel it is far more logical to see strength in your decision to reveal the truth then weakness in your hiding it."

He beamed, thanked me, and went off to continue his investigation, leaving me surprised and enlightened as I continued mine. I walked back to the place Kirigiri was examining, and picked up the scraps of paper she had been looking at. They seemed to be burnt pieces of a letter, the rest of which had presumably gone into the incinerator. Most of them were unreadable, but I did see a few words that were recognizable: "Help", "scared for them", and "advice", all written in a neat and curly hand. I noticed that one of the scraps of paper was slightly red, as if it had gotten a bit of blood on it. This, then, was presumably the paper that Oowada was holding when I saw him last.

I next went back to the dormitory, planning to examine room by room, when I noticed something: all of the nameplates were missing from the dorm rooms which were owned by female students: clearly, the killer had thought that far ahead. Crucially, Fujisaki's nameplate was also missing, so the killer had not gone inside the rooms to check whether the contents had been sewing kits or toolboxes. However, there was a slight stain on one of the doors, which I presumed was blood.

After concluding my investigation, I called Monokuma: it was time to put the penultimate stage of my plan into place.

After I said his name, he appeared before me, as suddenly and silently as always.

"**So, whaddaya want, Naegi? Given any thought to my offer?"**

"Perhaps, Monokuma. Perhaps. However, I called you here to ask a question: how much time are we given in a class trial?"

"**I...I've actually never thought about that. However, I'll be generous, since we're such good friends! Before a culprit is accused, I won't put any limits on you! However, after a villain is chosen, I'll harshly punish any stalling."**

I nodded. This was going exactly as I wished. However, now came the fiddly part.

"So, can I ask you to put that in the school rules? The other students don't damn well trust me. I'm starting to tire of their antics." As I said this last, I allowed a bit of badly hidden annoyance to show through in my expression.

"**Of course, Naegi! I know just how annoying those students can get! And, remember, if you ever get too annoyed, your options are open! Upupupupupu..."**

Monokuma vanished, and I let out a sigh of relief after checking that he had, in fact, updated the rules. It seemed whoever was behind him was still fallible, and believed my feigned emotions for long enough to accede to my requests. Now all I needed to do was wait for the trial. As I sat, thinking, an idea came to me: I could make my plan even more secure, and all I needed was a few seconds with Kirigiri before the trial.

A voice interrupted my thoughts: Monokuma's, to be precise. His head again filled the hallway screens.

"**A question that I was just asked reminded me of something: I haven't actually told you kiddies how Class Trials work yet! I know, I screwed up! If you want to find out, and trust me, you do, get to the gymnasium for a first class tutorial!"**

* * *

A/N: And, after a brief pause in storytelling caused by religious necessity, I'm back!

So, the first murder has been committed, and Naegi's getting his plans together. But will the Law of Unintended Consequences take another casualty? Upupupupupu...

Chapter 8, Lives, should be out tomorrow or Monday. Chapter 9, Trials, should be out by the middle of the week. After that, updating may slow because my educational year is starting, but I'll try to have chapter 10 out by the end of the upcoming week


	8. Lives

Chapter 8: Lives

As we filed into the gymnasium, I noticed Monokuma and Enoshima trading meaningful looks. Combined with the earlier oddities I noticed in Enoshima's behavior and appearance, this made me more than slightly suspicious of her motives; I positioned myself close enough to her to take action to stop her if she started to act strangely. After the last student entered the auditorium, Monokuma appeared from behind the podium, in his typical silent and sudden fashion.

"**As I said before, I've forgotten to tell you how class trials work, and I can't let that be the case! So, here's what you need to know. Each trial will consist of two main phases: Conviction and Proof. In the first phase, you'll all be trying to figure out who committed the despairingly evil crime, and in the second, you'll be proving your case against the villain. After these two phases are concluded, we enter the trial's climax: Ballot Time! You'll all be voting on who you think the killer is, and majority vote decides the conviction. If you are right, the murderer will be treated to a deliciously ironic execution courtesy of yours truly! But, if you get it wrong, the murderer gets off scot free, while the rest of you face an extravaganza of death! Any questions?"**

Enoshima immediately piped up, with a look of anger and confusion on her face.

"Yeah, I got a question! Why do we have to take part in this...this nonsense? What's stopping me from coming up there and giving you a good beating?"

Monokuma's eyes seemed to widen at that, and his arms opened wide as he grinned.

"**Why don't you attack me and find out? I look forward to it."**

As I saw Enoshima tense up, I quickly moved forward, hooking my foot around her ankle, and sending her crashing to the ground when she lunged for Monokuma. The thud of her body hitting the floor left the other students in awed silence. I quickly reached for her neck to find that, thankfully, she had a pulse. A few seconds later, her eyes jerked open, and she grabbed my wrist. She looked more fearful than annoyed.

"What the hell, Naegi?! Why'd you attack me like that? Are you on the bear's side or something?"

I shook my head, keeping my expression neutral. If I didn't play these next few seconds correctly, Monokuma and Enoshima would realize I knew something was up.

"No, Enoshima. I just don't see sense in sacrificing your life for no reason. Look at rule 5: it specifically forbids attacking the headmaster. And given the massive amount of turrets present around the school, I would assume that Monokuma and whoever is controlling him have the resources to make good on the implied threat. I completely understand your wanting to attack Monokuma, just..wait until you have an opportunity, ok?"

She relaxed, quite a lot of the fear leaving her eyes. As she stopped struggling, I moved away, and she stood up, and remained still.

Throughout this whole exchange, Monokuma remained motionless, some amusement tinging his expression as he watched the spectacle. After Enoshima stood, he grinned widely, and turned towards me.

"**So, little Naegi thinks he's going to find an opportunity to attack me? You are so, so impressively hopeful, and it will be inexpressibly wonderful to turn that hope into excruciatingly black despair."**

I calmly regarded Monokuma as I responded.

"You know, Monokuma, you go on and on and on about your motives. But, I must say, I'm really feeling more bored than despairing at this point."

Monokuma's eyes widened, and I could have sworn he looked insulted as he vanished behind the podium.

After Monokuma disappeared, the students dispersed, and Kirigiri came up to me, clearly annoyed with what I had done.

"Naegi, what motive did you actually have for stopping Enoshima?"

I looked at her silently, and motioned towards the security cameras, before mouthing 'changing room'.

Kirigiri immediately turned and headed for the aforementioned room, dragging me by the wrist for the whole way. As soon as we closed the door, garnering a few odd looks and wolf whistles from other students, she began speaking, in a quick and annoyed tone.

"Ok, I understand the need for secrecy, but what motive did you have for doing what you did in the auditorium?"

I checked that the doors were locked before responding.

" I did what I did because Enoshima has been acting suspiciously since day 1. When I first mentioned an outside organization, she was the only student who reacted. Also, as we entered the auditorium, she and Monokuma traded glances."

Kirigiri's eyes widened at this, and she hesitated before responding.

"So, she is despair, then?"

I nodded, before remembering another reason I needed to speak to Kirigiri.

"Most likely. There is a side request I need to make of you: can you ensure that nobody in the trial accuses a culprit until I do? Tell them it's because I want to ensure we don't jump to conclusions, or something along those lines."

She looked confused, but nodded.

"I'll do what I can, but why?"

As she said this, she paused, and a growing smile began to form on her face.

"Wait...you were the one who caused the new rule to be added to the electroIDs, weren't you. The one about time limits?"

I nodded, a similar smile forming on mine.

"Who else would have? Now, I'd prefer to keep the exact details of the plan secret, for now, at least until we get to the class trial room. Because, at that point, it will be too late for Monokuma to do anything."

She inclined her head, still smiling.

"That will have to do. Now, I believe we have a trial to get to."

We both walked out of the room, heading for the class trial room. As we approached it, I saw two things: first, the door was open, and second, the room was a station for an elevator which contained no security cameras.

As we entered the room, Monokuma appeared.

"**Well, now that our two latecomers have finally arrived, we can begin the main event! Get into the elevator, and get ready for the thing you've all been waiting for! When this elevator ascends, its all up to you how many people leave: 14, or 1. So come one, come all, because its time for a Class Trial!"**

We filed in, and Kirigiri immediately split off to talk to the others. A few minutes later, she returned, with an unreadable expression on her face.

"Everyone has agreed at least provisionally, though some were more resilient than in particular was insistent about knowing the real reason for the decision, but I believe he conceded in the end."

I sighed before replying.

"It would seem that will have to do. Hopefully, I'll get at least a minute or so of uninterrupted speaking time. And that's all I'll need."

Kirigiri's eyes widened, and she looked extremely concerned.

"Naegi, how can you be certain that that amount of time will be enough? What exactly are you planning here?"

I smirked, letting my inner confidence show through. As the elevator clunked into place and the doors opened, I replied.

"Well, Monokuma has been playing us for fools this whole time, what with his motives and perfectly timed announcements. Its only fair that I return the favor."

* * *

A/N: Well, everything's falling into place now. Next chapter, Trials, will be out by wednesday(hopefully) while Chapter 10(whose name will be left unknown...for now) should be out by the end of the week.

Now, a side question: After chapter 10 is done, which would you prefer me to write: an interlude before arc 2 which will probably be mostly dialogue focused(probably naegiri related), an omake telling the story of the last trial as it would have looked had rational!Naegi been mastermind, or an interlude regarding what went on the night before chapter 7? Please PM me with responses(include your reasons if possible).

Please review!


	9. Trials

Chapter 9: Trials

We stepped out of the elevator, each student walking towards the seat with their portrait on the back. I was seated directly opposite from the chair marked with Monokuma's face, at the far end of the room. After we all took our seats, Monokuma appeared in the aforementioned chair, holding a gavel. And, punctuating each word with a bang of said hammer, he said the words which began this fateful trial.

"**Court. Is. Now. In. Session!"**

After he said those words, I stood up, and immediately launched into a preplanned monologue.

"Does anybody mind if I start things off?"

As the other students shook their heads, I continued.

"Well, I believe I only need to say one thing to get my point across. There will be nobody accused today."

Seeing the other students and Monokuma stunned into silence, I barreled on; the only way that this plan would work was if absolutely nobody had time to think and change the rules to accommodate it.

"Because, Monokuma, while you may have insured and protected yourself in every possible way, there's still one thing you could never take out of our hands: our participation in this farce of an event. So, I feel like I need some more information to make an accurate decision in this trial. Namely, the condition of the outside world and the memories you stole from me. Fulfill those demands and maybe I'll pick a culprit."

Monokuma's eyes widened, and he seemed to look afraid for the first time since he had first appeared. However, this seeming fear quickly vanished behind his ever-present smirk as he responded.

"**So, Naegi-kun is ready to attack. Well, I must say, you do seem to hold all of the cards. So, you wanted to see the outside world, then? Are you sure you want it?"**

I smirked and nodded. Did Monokuma really think I'd have second thoughts because of this petty attempt at fear-mongering? He saw my nod and moved towards a button that slid out of his chair. Just as his paw was about to land on it, a voice was heard in the courtroom. Sayaka Maizono's voice.

"Why're you so eager to make sure we don't pick a culprit, Naegi? Seems awfully suspicious to me! How do we know you didn't do it?"

After she said that, I could almost hear my plans shattering.

And as I heard her voice followed by Monokuma's triumphant laugh, I realized there was one thing I had forgotten to account for:the actions of an irrational, desperate culprit.

"**Culprit accused! This trial now moves into the proof stage, and as such, rule 9 no longer applies! Sorry, Naegi, but you lose this round!"**

I whirled towards Maizono, hoping that the sheer coldness of my voice could bring across the anger I currently felt.

"Maizono, first, you just doomed everyone else in this courtroom in a futile attempt to save your own skin. Second, in your eagerness to frame someone, you picked the one person who literally could not have committed the crime."

She looked stunned, both because of the vehemence of my response and the first point I had made, before rallying and replying.

"What do you mean, couldn't have? You were found at the scene of the crime! You had a bloody needle in your hand!"

I briefly gaped before bursting out into laughter.

"Somebody's a bit overeager, aren't they. Well, given that those are your only two pieces of so-called evidence, I can understand that."

Her eyes widened.

"Well, Naegi, laugh all you like, but you still can't disprove-"

I cut her off midsentence.

"I can't disprove? Oh, I can. And I will. However, before doing so, I'd like to ask-How, exactly, did you see me at the crime scene and not see the body?"

She seemed confused.

"How can you prove I didn't see the body?"

"The corpse discovery announcement didn't play until I was fully conscious and saw the body, and Kirigiri and Fujisaki had both already seen it. That brings up another question: how, exactly, did I murder someone while unconscious from getting a needle stuck in my brain stem?"

She immediately retorted.

"There's no way you can prove that you were knocked out!"

I chuckled.

"Really, just stop with this 'you can't prove anything' mantra. I know I can't 'prove' anything, I'm a bayesian rationalist. However, I can show that its exceptionally likely. By, for instance, showing that I have the same type and depth of wound on my neck as Oowada did. Now, if I were the murderer, why, exactly, would I have knocked myself out with a sewing needle? And, secondly, why would I have removed all of the nameplates on the female students' rooms, while leaving a splash of blood on your door? Surely if it were meant as a frame-up, I would have left the nameplates on? And, lastly, my handwriting looks nothing like those wonderful scraps of letter paper you so handily left lying out of the incinerator. Is everyone besides her satisfied that I didn't kill Oowada?"

The other students nodded, and then Yasuhiro Hagakure, the SDHS Shaman, cut in.

"But who did? We're back to square one, aren't we?"

I smirked, shaking my head.

"In no way are we back to square one. In fact, I'm going to tell you who killed Oowada, and exactly how they did it. Let us begin at the beginning: the A/V room, where they received their motivation in the form of a threat to someone they cared about. They immediately resolved to kill someone to escape, but who? They probably decided on Oowada because of one of two things: his position as janitor, or his innate protectiveness. After having picked a victim, the murderer sent them a letter, appealing to his protective side and asking for help in their situation, requesting a night meeting. What they did not expect was that someone, namely me, would be out to meet Oowada that night. Acting hastily, they knocked me out, and took down Oowada before he could realize. After that, they tore the paper from Oowada's hand, cutting it in the process and ripping the paper, and then garroted Oowada with the thread. After Oowada died, the killer proceeded to cover their tracks: putting every shred of paper they could find into the incinerator, leaving the bloody needle in my hand, and removing the nameplates from the dorm rooms so nobody could tell which room had gotten a blood splash on it. As for the provenance of that blood, I'd assume it came from either mine or Oowada's necks, as both wounds bled quite a bit. Now, without further ado, the person who committed these crimes: Sayaka Maizono."

Her eyes widened, and she started trembling.

"There's no way...you can prove any of this! It's all lies! Lies and slander!"

I looked calmly back at her.

"Well, then, Maizono, where's your sewing kit? Show us that the thread is unused, and my whole explanation falls apart. So, go on, prove me wrong."

She gaped, before breaking down in tears.

"Please, don't execute me. I...I...I had to save my friends! Please, have mercy! Please!"

I snapped.

"You want me to have mercy?! After you kept everyone else from escaping! After you stopped us from regaining our memories! You want me to have mercy on you, after you valued your own life over the lives of everyone else in this room? No, Maizono, I will not 'have mercy'. You will not be saved this day. You will fall, and it will be a just penalty for your selfishness and idiocy."

She fell silent, and Monokuma cut in.

"**Well, it looks like Naegi-kun has grown some fangs! Anyway, its Ballot Time! Press the button in front of you that corresponds to the culprit you pick!"**

I pressed a button, as did every other student in the room. A large slot machine appeared, flickering through images until Maizono's face stopped on all three rows, and the word guilty flashed up beneath the rows.

"**Correct on all accounts! And now, without further ado, what you've all been waiting for...Execution!"**

* * *

A/N: Executions, the conclusion of the arc, should be out by wednesday if not earlier.

I am still waiting for votes on the question I asked in my A/N to chapter 8-please PM me with responses!

As for the story: No plan survives contact with the enemy, does it...


	10. Executions

A/N: this chapter contains a graphic execution. If you wish to skip past it, go to the scene break about halfway through.

* * *

Chapter X: Executions

The screen graphic above our heads abruptly changed, now showing a sprite of Maizono and the words Game Over. Meanwhile, Maizono's chair back reclined slightly, and a metal claw appeared behind her, gripping her throat. As it yanked her back down a suddenly opening hallway, the graphic showed Maizono being dragged backwards by Monokuma, and the words 'Sayaka Maizono has been found guilty. Commencing execution."

After a few second, the entire back wall of the Class Trial room vanished, revealing a large blank area with a platform at the back. After a few seconds, Maizono rose up from a trapdoor beneath the apparent stage, her hands chained to a microphone stand which was bolted to the stage.

Monokuma appeared in front of the remaining students, all of whom were sporting identical expressions of confusion.

"**For our first execution, I thought I'd give you all something special. So, without further ado, I present...The Final Performance!"**

He vanished, and the space between us and the stage abruptly filled with Monokumas, all of whom were applauding. Suddenly, two large spotlights switched on, lighting up Maizono. One of the Monokumas in the audience threw a rose, and it glinted strangely in the lights as it flew. Once it hit the stage, it stabbed into the ground with an audible slicing noise, causing Maizono to jump back. Immediately, all of the Monokumas pulled out roses, and soon the air was a deadly blizzard of the bladed flowers. For a while, Maizono dodged them, with the kind of impressive fluidity that only a mix of fear and massive amounts of adrenaline can provide. However, after a while, she began to tire, and soon a rose struck a glancing blow to her right leg, leaving a thin but deep gash. Her face whitened, and she sunk to one knee briefly before levering herself back up on the microphone stand. However, her movements were now slower and unbalanced, and after only a few more seconds, a rose landed a direct hit to the back of her knee. She collapsed, screaming. It seemed the rose had hit a tendon and severed it. After she collapsed, the amount of thrown roses decreased, and it seemed that the Monokumas were deliberately missing, creating a ring around Maizono to ensure she could not move. After this was done, one Monokuma stepped forward, holding six roses in his paws. The first one hit Maizono in the other tendon, and she dropped to a prone position, still bleeding. The second and third hit her in the elbows, pinning them to the microphone stand. The fourth hit her in the stomach, leaving her bleeding out on the ground. The fifth and sixth hit her in the eyes, impaling them. Before throwing the last, Monokuma turned to us.

"**Now, students, I'm going to offer you a choice. I can either give you something that will help you figure out this school's mysteries, or put her out of her misery. You have 15 seconds to decide before getting neither."**

I immediately stepped forward.

"I would like to apologize to everyone who would disagree with this decision, but we need the help escaping. If its any consolation, I would suspect she is rather beyond pain at this point."

Monokuma nodded.

"**You have chosen...wisely. In return for watching your friend die in abject misery, I will unlock one floor of the school for you after every class trial."**

He turned back towards Maizono and began to laugh, and his laughter almost covered up the sounds of her endless gasping for breath. Eventually, after she finally stopped breathing, he turned back to us.

"**Congratulations on surviving your first class trial! You...are...dismissed!"**

* * *

The students filed back into the elevator, some in tears, some surprised, and others merely stoic; I fell into this last group, minus a small degree of shaking. Kirigiri walked towards me, but I motioned her away and mouthed 'talk in the room'. She nodded, and walked away.

After the elevator locked into place on the upper floor, I ran out, pushing past people. My mind was ablaze with alternatives, trying, desperately to think of some way I could have saved everyone, some possible action I could take to make sure nobody else ended up dying. I kept seeing images of Oowada lying garotted on the ground and of Maizono's last accusing, pleading face before she was pulled into the execution. I sprinted into Kirigiri's room and closed the door, my mind now replacing Maizono's face with Kirigiri's or Fujisaki's, endlessly tormenting me with thoughts of what could happen the next time I failed them and failed myself. I sat on the bed, panting, and gradually brought my mind under control; by the time Kirigiri walked into the room, I was breathing calmly again and my mind had stopped with its terrifying imagery. She sat down on the bed beside me, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"Naegi, you should not blame yourself. Your plan should have worked."

I laughed ruefully.

"Kirigiri, let me ask you something. If a man falls off a cliff, and his parachute has a hole in it, will telling gravity you should be immune to its effects make any difference?"

She shook her head.

"Furthermore, not blaming myself is as pointless as blaming gravity for the inevitable splat of that man. While it may well be partially true, it changes nothing. Apportioning blame to myself is the only way I can be mostly certain that I will avoid similar mistakes next time."

She nodded, but still looked concerned.

"Be that as it may, Naegi, you cannot handle this alone. While you may be better than the rest of us at planning, you are not infallible, and your emotions are not perfectly governed. Please, let me help you. For your own sake."

I slightly tensed, before relaxing and moving slightly closer to her.

"Thank you, Kirigiri. I needed to hear that from someone, so that I could convince the last reluctant parts of my mind to agree with it. From now on, I'll bring you in on plans, tell you of at least some of my deductions, and at least try to share the emotional burden. Of course, I still can't trust you completely, for obvious reasons."

She nodded, before slightly smiling..

"I wouldn't have expected anything less. Also, please, call me Kyouko. Given the amount we've been through, it seems only fair."

"Then call me Makoto, ' I responded, a similar slight smile gracing my features.

"Now, Kyouko, I've hit a snag in terms of planning. Unless the second floor yields any new weaknesses of Monokuma, I have nowhere to strike him at, without making extremely drastic moves."

Her head tilted slightly, and her eyes widened questioningly.

"What, exactly, do you mean by drastic moves?"

I paused before replying.

"Moves like, say, getting Fujisaki to help me convert the equipment in the A/V room into a terminal capable of VM interactions, and then remotely overriding the puppetmaster's control of Monokuma. Which, needless to say, is rather high risk."

She laughed.

"Yes, I have to agree with that assessment. Should we go reconnoiter the second floor, then?"

I nodded, before briefly pausing. Perhaps there was one way I could still get information from Monokuma.

"I'll see you there soon, Kirigiri. Just...give me a few minutes, ok? I think I can solve a lingering...problem."

She inclined her head, and stood up.

"Just...don't take too long, ok, Naegi? Last time you left during a meaningful conversation, you ended up passed out bleeding in a corridor."

I laughed, and stood up, walking out of the room. The moment I left, I changed my expression to one of barely controlled despair. It was time to take advantage of Monokuma's presumed hubris.

"Hey...Monokuma, I-I've got a question."

Monokuma instantly appeared.

"**Whaddaya want, Naegi-kun? Feeling the despair yet?"**

"I just want to know...why? Why the choice?"

"**To get the viewers interested, of course! Nothing fires people up like a good moral dilemma!"**

Monokuma stood silently after that, as if waiting for me to make the connection. When the import of his words hit me, it hit like a runaway train, and I gasped. Of course Monokuma had been willing to give in, and of course he had played up every event;after all, he was performing. I immediately allowed my expression to return to its true state of quiet confidence, and Monokuma gasped.

"**WHAAT? Naegi-kun, you lied to me! You still had hope! No fair!"**

I smirked.

"Yep. And you fell for it, like, well, a bear falls into a spike pit. Now, I have a message for you and our wonderful studio audience: its not over yet. If you thought I was done after one scam, you thought wrong. Because, when it comes to plans, I'm just getting started."

End of Arc 1

Current dead students: Maizono, Oowada

* * *

A/N: Well, arc 1 is done.

Please review!

Also, please message me your choices for interlude while I plot out arc 2: Current voting: 2 votes for the story about Naegi and Kirigiri on the first night, 1 vote for the interlude in between arcs 1 and 2, 0 votes for the rational!Mastermind!Naegi AU.


	11. Interlude: Comfort

Interlude: Comfort

I ran to the second floor stairwell, nearly tripping over my feet as I sprinted. As I reached the top and saw Kirigiri at the end of the hallway, she turned, my footsteps presumably audible.

"What is it, Makoto? Why such eagerness?"

"I can't say here. Meet me where we discussed plans, ok?"

She nodded.

"I presume reconnoitering can wait, then. Although I am curious what you could have discovered that could be more urgent."

I turned, and headed down the stairwell, walking back towards the changing room. I entered to find Kirigiri waiting there for me.

"Firstly, how did you get past me to get here?"

"Your situational awareness was abysmal. I just walked past you. Now what on earth are you so focused on?"

I turned and locked the door, pushing a bench in front of it to make certain we would remain uninterrupted.

"Monokuma told me something he really, really shouldn't have. While we were talking, he mentioned viewers. External viewers. It turns out this isn't just for his amusement."

Kirigiri's eyes widened.

"What?! We are being broadcasted? To whom? And why?"

I shrugged.

"Sadly, I couldn't tell from the words he used. However, he did mention that the trial was partly to fire them up. Also, something else. The broadcast signal has to be being sent outside of the school."

Her expression changed into the slight smile I had come to recognize as she responded.

"And that means that there's a connection we can hijack or exploit."

I smirked.

"Exactly. And, even better, Monokuma's given us the freedom to do it. Because, looking at it one way, modifying the security cameras to be able to broadcast messages is an improvement, and thus definitely not against rule 5. This almost makes Maizono's death worth it."

Kirigiri looked at me with a concerned countenance.

"Makoto, you can't still be focusing on this. Her death was not your fault. Her murdering Oowada was not your fault."

"How can you be certain? You said yourself, my situational awareness was abysmal! If it had been better, maybe I would have seen her, and turned, maybe I could have warned Oowada, and nobody would have had to die!"

She moved closer to me, and put her hand on my knee.

"And, if you had? How long would it have been until she attacked someone else? Someone defenseless? At least Oowada led a gang, and he wasn't innocent. What if she had targetted Fujisaki next?"

I shuddered, letting some of my emotions surface.

"That-that's what I'm afraid of. That next time, someone I care about will be attacked. Someone like Fujisaki, or-"

Kirigiri cut me off there.

"Me."

I nodded, and she suddenly looked more certain.

"Well, Makoto, if you want to protect me, then stop this. Your fear weakens you. It turns your thoughts to a jumble, and destroys your instincts. You are the SDHS rationalist. Act like it."

I briefly paused, and brought my emotions back under control.

"Thank you. I needed that. "

She inclined her head, her eyes suddenly turning mirthful.

"Well, it seems we are having a meaningful conversation. You wouldn't happen to have any reason you need to rush off, would you? No plans to bring to fruition, no messages to burn?"

I laughed.

"Not this time. Although, I do have someone who seems to be breaking all of my emotional barriers, and I was wondering if you could help find out more about her. I might need help, she's a detective, so I'll suspect she'll be pretty difficult to crack."

She chuckled, her eyes filling with fake severity.

"Well, Makoto, my professional opinion is to try to converse more with the person in question. You never know what that may reveal."

I smirked.

"That's what I expected. On another note, how did you like my solving the case? I'm quite a fan of the Holmes-esque methods."

"I quite enjoyed it. Not quite as elegant as mine would have been, but still impressive. For a novice. I do have one question, though. In your sequence of events, how did you pinpoint when Maizono took the paper from Oowada's hands?"

"Oh, I didn't. In fact, I was pretty sure she took it after killing him. On the other hand, if Maizono had disputed that, she would have convicted herself rather neatly."

"I take back what I said about elegance. How recursive does someone's mind have to get so they solve a case and then lie about evidence to convict someone when they contradict the falsehood? More importantly, who starts out a trial planning that?!"

"Why, me, Kyouko. I thought we had already established that that is, in fact, exactly what I did. Now, as for the recursivity question, 3 levels of deception. There's a reason I'm the one who does the plotting."

"Fine. A second question for you: for how long did you know Maizono was the culprit?"

I stopped to think, pondering until Kirigiri cut in on my reverie.

"So? I was unaware this was a difficult question. "

" I was just debating what counts as knowing. I'd have to say about when I spotted the nameplate missing from Fujisaki's room."

"Because that meant she hadn't checked inside, and thus the splash on her door couldn't have been a frame-up?"

"Exactly. It's incredibly refreshing to talk about this with someone who is intelligent enough to follow the arguments. Especially after a trial like that one. I still don't understand how Maizono ever thought framing me was a good idea."

"Because, unlike me, she hasn't spent enough time around you to realize that trying to outplot you is a futile proposition?"

"Yes, that might be it. Hopefully, my sheer dominance over that trial should...dissuade other people from trying that again."

Kirigiri nodded.

"I must admit, your presence was...overpowering. And rather terrifying."

"Yes, that happens when I become angry. Which is both a rare occurrence and a dangerous one. I would advise that if it ever happens again, keep me away from access to electronics. Because otherwise I'll start tasing people."

"I'll keep that in mind if I ever need something tased."

I laughed, before falling silent as I realized that my latent emotions had dissipated. Kirigiri looked over at me, concerned by my sudden silence.

"Makoto, is something wrong?"

"No, quite the opposite. I no longer feel the emotions I did over the events of today. Thank you."

She smiled, and leaned closer to me, placing her head on my shoulder.

"It was not a problem. Do let me know if you have any other deep seated psychological issues that need curing?"

I smirked, but did not respond. After a few minutes of merely enjoying the moment, I spoke up.

"So, we should go reconnoiter. Before we leave, we should muss up our clothing, and you your hair, to make the illusion more plausible.

She nodded, and after a few minutes of making ourselves look just nonpresentable enough to be believable, we stepped out, ready to face the world once more.

* * *

A/N: Well, here's the Interlude that won the vote. It is a slightly different tone than most, but I feel it still captures the spirit of the character.

Quick update on Arc 2: I've plotted out quite a bit of it. However, I have just started school, and my workload is large enough to deter writing to a large degree, so update pace will slow even after I start putting out arc 2.

Please review!


	12. Reconnoiter

Arc 2: Eternal despair of a spotless mind

Day 02:

Chapter 11: Reconnoiter

Kirigiri and I headed for the stairwell, both conscious of the responses we were engendering in the other students. When we reached the second floor, I turned to her.

"I think it is wiser if we split up, then reconvene to discuss our findings. If there is anything you want to examine more closely, we should discuss it when we meet up post investigation."

She nodded.

"I agree. Meet at the stairwell in approximately 10 minutes."

I assented, and we split up. I first headed towards the end of the long hallway to my left, and opened the double doors I found there. Inside I saw a smallish room, with two doors on the far end, one of which was red and the other one blue. I walked towards the blue one, and Monokuma appeared.

"**I see you've found the changing rooms, Naegi-kun. There's one of these for each gender, and the card readers will only let you in if your electroID matches that gender. So I don't want any hanky-panky, understood! You get enough of that in the changing rooms anyway. And, to answer your despairingly obvious question before you ask it, I will see if your electroID does not match your face. And then I will get angry."**

He motioned to a nearby gun turret. I nodded, and he vanished.

I stepped forward, placing my electroID on the card reader near the blue door. It lit up, and the door opened. I walked inside, and looked around. This was seemingly a combination of a changing room and a workout room, with lockers lining the walls and exercise equipment in the center of the room. A vulgar poster hung on one wall, presumably to motivate us to work out. I walked to the door at the far end of the room, and opened it. What was inside left me...nonplussed, to say the least; an olympic pool filled the room, with diving boards of various heights on the edges and full sets of pool equipment lining the back wall. It would seem this school was fully equipped for Asahina, at least. After a bit more fruitless examination of the room, I left, reasonably confident that I wouldn't be discovering anything more from there. After leaving the changing rooms, I made a right, heading for the bathrooms. Passing by the women's, I entered the men's, to see that, yet again, the walls were bare of cameras. I checked each stall cursorily, and saw something strange in the last: the wall seemed slightly recessed and disconnected from the wall surrounding it. I walked into the stall, and saw a handprint shape near the toilet. I placed my hand on it, and the print flashed green as the section of wall rumbled aside to reveal a secret room with a few books and papers in it. This certainly warranted further examination. I made a mental note of it, before exiting the room, the wall rumbling back into place behind me.

I next headed for the room marked by a book on my map, which, once I entered, I saw was a library. Togami was inside, reading through a sheaf of paper and surrounded by folders. As I entered, he looked up and noticed me.

"So, Naegi, you have found the most useful tool that we have been given."

"I presume you mean this library. Based on what I have seen, it seems unlikely that Despair would have been so lacking in foresight as to leave us useful information that they had not carefully monitored, but I suppose it is a possibility."

I turned away, and began to examine the room. Beyond the traditional assortment of books and papers covering all manner of subjects, I saw nothing specifically unusual; however, the books themselves certainly merited closer examination. I moved to the back of the room, and opened a door in the back wall: inside was a room with folders covering every available inch of shelf space. While these seemed different in their content, they would require investigation and time that I could not spare as of yet.

I exited the library and cursorily checked both classrooms, verifying that they were the same as the others I had seen. I then returned to the stairwell, and Kirigiri walked up a few seconds later.

"Naegi, there were a few items on the floor I feel we should examine further. First, I am sure you noticed the plethora of documents in the library and archives; I quickly examined a few and they contain rather private information. Also, the card readers on this floor seem to be different technology than the ones for our dorm rooms."

I nodded.

"I hadn't noticed the model change for the card readers, and it seems almost pointless. As for the library documents, I agree, but a total examination could take days, if not longer. I would suggest that we focus on the archives, if anything, as the documents contained therein seem far more important to examine. Meanwhile, when Monokuma approached me to explain the card readers, he made an offhand remark that suggests he has seen or relationship. Hopefully, that means we can remain...private whenever we need to. In fact, I did notice something I believe should not be mentioned in a public place."

Her eyes slightly widened.

"So, do these restrooms have cameras?"

"No, but it is unwise for us to use them as private points. I'll explain later."

She inclined her head, and we headed for the changing room.

As we headed down the stairwell, Hagakure called to me.

"Really, Naegs? I would never have pegged you as the romantic type."

"Well, Hagakure," I shot back, "There's quite a lot you don't know about me. And I'd wager that your crystal ball won't be able to help much with that."

He laughed.

"People are always skeptics til I show them."

"Not now, Hagakure. I have business to deal with."

He winked.

"Yeah, business. Right."

I smirked and continued walking.

After we entered the room and I closed the door, Kirigiri turned to me with questioning eyes.

"So, what was it that you couldn't say in those bathrooms?"

"There was a secret room linked to the men's room. One of the stalls had a handprint reader keyed to accept my handprint and open up the wall."

Her eyes widened.

"And? What was in it?"

"As far as I can tell, papers and books. I didn't get much time to examine it, and I worry that if i spend overmuch time there, Monokuma's going to get suspicious. Unless I have a plausible reason for being in the restrooms for 40 minutes or so."

She nodded.

"I didn't see any similar structure in the women's room. Do you have any way of telling whether it was keyed to other handprints as well as yours?"

"Maybe Fujisaki could, but I don't know enough about the technology to make a reasonable run at it, That reminds me, I should begin fabricating the tech I'll need to get any plans started. Do you have any special requests?"

"If possible, could you make some items for personal defense? I'd prefer to be able to defend against any possible murder attempts."

"Understood. So, I'll get some tasers and flashbangs set up. Beyond that, I'll start work on something that can blow out lights in the vicinity of its use, and try to get a signal jammer up and running."

She slightly tilted her head.

"So, you think Monokuma is wirelessly controlled, then?"

"I hope so. If that's an AI, especially one with outside world access, with its morality...a lot of people would already be dead. And our escape would be pointless anyway."

She nodded, but looked troubled.

"If, in a worst case scenario, a lot of people are dead, what is our plan? What if we survive and make it out only to find that there's nothing to find outside?"

"In that case, we do what humanity's always done: we rebuild. The supplies here should last us a while, and the existence of broadcasting and receiving technology means it is literally not possible that the technological level could have receded too far."

She nodded, and after again mussing up our hair and clothing, we exited, heading for the cafeteria. As I entered, I saw that the room was full of students, all of whom were shouting at each other. I rapped against the wall, and gradually, the room quieted.

"Would someone like to tell me what, exactly, is going on here?"

* * *

A/N: After a slight hiatus, I'm back. Arc 2 is pretty well plotted out, but there still remains some fine-tuning to be done. School will also be delaying my updates to some degree.

The next two chapters, Argue and Plan, should be out at least within the next two weeks, if not earlier. The chapter after that, Resist, should be out within a week of Plan.

Please review!


	13. Argue

Chapter XII: Argue:

The group parted to reveal three people standing near the back of the room; Togami, who had a look of barely suppressed rage on his face, stood on one side of the table, while Sakura Oogami, the SDHS Fighter, was holding back Kuwata on the other side. Togami's face seemed reddened, as if he had been punched. As I looked at him, he turned towards me.

"This unworthy excuse for a human being decided that I was a good target for his animalistic rage. It's a wonder he wasn't the first murderer."

I turned towards the other two.

"Kuwata, why did you assault Togami?"

"He said Maizono-chan deserved to die. And that she deserved the punishment she got."

My eyes slightly widened.

"Kuwata, she killed another student in cold blood. After doing that, she tried to frame me. If she had succeeded, we would all be dead. If that isn't deserving, I don't know what is."

Kuwata tried to lunge at me, and Oogami barely managed to hold him back.

"Bastard! You watched her die! You forced her to go through pain! How should I know you didn't want her to die from the beginning?!"

"Because I gave my reasons for doing what I did when I did it. Also, if I had wanted her to die, why would I have tried to stop anybody from being accused at the beginning of the trial?"

He blinked, clearly confused. However, after a few seconds, he rallied.

"Because you planned this all with Monokuma!"

I gaped.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"You've been in cahoots with him this whole time! First you gave us the so called information from a reliable source, then you set up the watch system that led to Maizono and Oowada's deaths, and you even stopped Enoshima from attacking Monokuma! Why should we trust you?"

Other students began nodding their assent. I inhaled deeply before exhaling quickly, my expression setting into a cold, grim one.

"You want to know why you should trust me? You have no choice. Without my help, you would not have solved that trial. Without my help, every single one of you would be dead right now, and Maizono would have been the only one to leave that elevator. And now? If someone else is murdered, the murderer is certain to leave fewer clues than Maizono did. If you don't trust me to solve cases, if you don't believe my words, every single person in this room will most likely die. And it will be your fault."

Kuwata froze, silenced completely. Before I could relax, however, Enoshima cut in from the crowd.

"That's exactly what a traitor would say!"

I whirled around, my eyes locking on to Enoshima's.

"I see there will be no convincing you that I am not a traitor to the bear. However, consider this. If I were a traitor, would you really be able to stop me? How difficult would it really be for me to frame a culprit? I could have left you all to die in that courtroom, and there would have been nothing you could do about it."

She opened her mouth to speak again, but Togami cut her off.

"Do not persist in this foolishness. Continuing to accuse him does nothing but further evidence your idiocy. On the other hand, considering you were about to attack Monokuma, it wasn't like anybody needed much more evidence."

I cut in.

"Togami, allow me. Enoshima, if you don't believe me, there is nobody obligating you to listen. The door is there. If you don't interfere with me, I will not interfere with you."

She stood up and walked out.

"Oogami, let Kuwata go. If he wishes to leave, now is the time."

The fighter let go of Kuwata, and he too walked out.

"Does anyone else want to leave?"

I was met with a forest of shaking heads.

"Good. Now, who are Kuwata and Enoshima's watch partners?"

The SDHS Otaku, Hifumi Yamada, spoke up.

"Master Naegi, they were partners. The third in their cohort was Maizono."

I froze.

"You...what? How often did you see them talking to each other?"  
"They were almost always together. That party was not easy to split."

My jaw dropped. This was clearly something that had been in the works for far longer than the first motive. Which meant that Monokuma knew each student well enough to predict who would commit a murder at which incentive. Questions began to form in my mind, the foremost of which regarded Monokuma's falling for my plans. If he was able to read each one of us so well, how could I deceive him so easily? Unless...I hadn't. I looked back at Yamada, and quickly responded.

"I thank you for your information. It has proved most valuable."

I turned around, quickly walking out of the cafeteria. As I left, I called Fujisaki over. He caught up with me as I reached the first floor restroom, and I motioned to him to go inside. He entered with a confused look on his face, and I followed him, closing the door behind me.

Once I was satisfied that nobody was following us, I turned to Fujisaki.

"Fujisaki, before you ask, I brought you here because there are no cameras. I have a quick question: do you recall which camera you had a feeling you needed to fix?"

He thought for a few seconds before brightening.

"Y-yes, Naegi. The one in the entrance hall. It wasn't recording successfully, so the displays were looping 10 minutes of footage continuously."

"Thanks. Secondly, do you know anything about the handprint reader in the second floor restroom?"

Fujisaki looked confused.

"W-was that what that was? I t-tried to put my hand on it, b-but it flashed red. Did something happen when you used it?"

I nodded.

"A compartment opened. One last question: if I got you a few seconds in the A/V room without Monokuma watching, do you think you would be able to fabricate something that would be able to briefly shut down security cameras? Or, still better, something to make them loop footage?"

Fujisaki looked uncertain, before a confident expression formed on his face, and his posture straightened.

"I-if you need me to do this, Naegi, I will. I won't fail you. Why do you need it?"

"I need a diversion. As for why I need one, I have a feeling that inside the compartment lies valuable information."

"I-I'll do what I can. Is there anything else you need?"

I began to shake my head, before a thought came to mind.

"Actually, there is something. When we leave, walk to the end of the hallway, wait 15 seconds, and then call to Monokuma. Ask him a question about the outside world, try to keep him for at least 30 seconds."

He nodded, and we walked out, splitting up. I walked to one corner, and counted off 15 seconds after I lost sight of Fujisaki. I then turned towards the nearest camera, and mouthed the words "Rationality will always triumph over despair."

After waiting a further 30 seconds, I called for Monokuma. He appeared before me, looking exasperated.

"**Whaddaya want? I can't get a wink of rest around here!"**

"Oh, I just wanted to ask if you wanted to respond to what I said."

"**What you said? Oh, you mean the thing about having always more plans?"**

"Yes. What else could I have meant?"

"**Well, I don't need to respond. You'll see what your plans bring you, and I'll savor your despair! Upupupupupu..."**

With that, he vanished, leaving me fighting to stop a grin from appearing on my face. With that conversation, the first piece of a new plan had fallen into place. And, unlike the last one, this plan didn't rely on the fallibility of people I didn't trust.

A/N: For those wondering about the changed chapter end, FFN stopped allowing my old horizontal line.

Updates will most likely become once or twice weekly from now on.

The next two chapters, plan and resist, should be out in the next 2 weeks.

Please review!


	14. Plan

Chapter 13: Plan

I jogged down the stairwell, heading for the first floor. Once there, I immediately turned and headed for the entrance hall. I entered, and positioned myself directly under the security camera. Turning around, I carefully examined the outer hallways for other security cameras and TVs, and spotted none. I then swiveled to face the left wall of the room, and saw one camera, presumably placed to eliminate the obvious blind spot. I mentally marked the position of that camera, and walked under it to see if it had exposed wires. Thankfully, it did. Presumably, the people or person behind this trusted that our fear of the rules would keep us from making any drastic moves. Or, they wanted to give themselves an excuse to execute someone. Hopefully, they wouldn't see fit to suddenly change the rules.

After examining the entrance room, I walked into the hallway, and called for Monokuma.

He appeared, still looking somewhat disgruntled.

"**I was just getting ready for a nice nap. What do you damn well want?!"**

"Well, I merely wanted to ask where I would get a backpack. Seeing as its a school and all, I assume that shouldn't be much trouble."

"**The supply roo-Wait. Whyd'ya need a damn backpack! Am I your supply store or something?!"**

"I have been reading a lot of stuff from the library and don't want to injure myself carrying it.

Monokuma looked somewhat mollified.

"**Well, I guess you can't kill people with a slipped disk. Fine. Supply room, third shelf from the door, middle row. But I better see something spectacular from you in the future!"**

I smirked. "Oh, don't worry. You'll be blinded by amazement. It'll be simply...shocking."

Monokuma tilted his head.

"**Why do I feel like a pun just went over my head?"**

"Because you're short. That must happen often."

Monokuma's red eye began to pulse.

"**Oh, Naegi, you'll regret that...I promise you...upupupupupupu..."**

He vanished, and I began to chuckle. Now Monokuma was angry, which meant he'd be far more likely to make mistakes. Admittedly, it also meant he was more likely to try to have me or one of my close friends killed if we got caught for what I was planning.

I walked to the supply room, and picked up the backpack, also picking up a few sheets of paper and a pen before I left.

I then walked to the restroom nearest me, and began to feverishly write out three messages, one to Fujisaki, one to Togami, and one to Kirigiri, each detailing the parts that they'd need to play in the plan. At the end of each one, I appended a postscript saying that they should meet me in the changing rooms at 730 pm to discuss and evaluate what we were about to do. After folding each message, I wrote a quick sentence on the top of each warning the recipients to avoid opening the messages in a place that other students of Monokuma could see.

I left the restroom, and walked to the dining hall, finding the remaining students seated there. I walked up to Togami first, tapping him on the shoulder.

"What is urgent enough that you needed to disturb me, Naegi?"

I wordlessly handed him his sheet of paper, and he read the words on the front, his eyes almost imperceptibly widening.

"I presume that this is important enough to warrant such precautions?"

I nodded.

"I would advise you read it as soon as possible and begin your preparations. If what is contained therein is to work, we need it to be timely."

I then walked up to Fujisaki, handing him his message. He rapidly read the front, then turned back to me, looking determined but slightly confused.

"I-is this about-"

I cut him off, keeping my voice low as I responded.

"Partially, though there are some extra matters in there. I would caution you against mentioning what you were about to unless we are in a private location."

He slumped slightly, and looked penitent.

"N-naegi, I'm s-sorry...I w-won't let you down again."

"No harm done, don't worry. You didn't actually say anything harmful."

He brightened slightly at that, and I saw him smiling as I walked towards Kirigiri. She turned towards me as I approached, with the slight smile on her face I'd come to realize was her standard expression for any amount of happiness.

"Naegi, what brings you here? I had assumed you were off researching."

I handed her the paper before replying.

"Well, I was. Then I found...well, you'll see. Suffice it to say its time for us to really use the tools we've been given."

She read the message on the front of the paper, and turned serious.

"I'll check this out immediately."

I nodded, and sat down to eat. I occupied my meal with further conversations, looking up occasionally when I heard something either humorous or interesting. Kuwata and Enoshima walked in about 15 minutes after I began to eat, sitting at one corner of a table. They talked intently to each other, not giving a thought to anyone else. That seemed something worthy of examination, but I couldn't afford to have them wondering why I rushed off to a changing room in the middle of the conversation. That is, if I managed to start a conversation in the first place, which seemed unlikely.

About 10 minutes later, at 7:26, I leisurely stood up, cleared my eating items, and walked to the changing room, finding it empty. About 3 minutes later, Kirigiri entered, with the same small smile present on her face as before.

"Naegi, I have a few questions."

"Wait for the others. I'd prefer to only answer them once."

A minute later, Togami entered, and I told him the same thing.

Finally, after about 10 minutes, Fujisaki hurried into the room carrying a backpack, panting heavily.

"I-I'm sorry...I-I'm late...just finished...both items."

I grinned.

"So, now that everyone is here, we can begin. Firstly, Fujisaki has something to give each of us."

I nodded to Fujisaki, and he reached into his pack, pulling out 4 walkie talkies, each with a few circuit boards and wires dangling out of them.

"I used s-some that were in the A/V room already, and modified them. T-they should be fully encrypted, and p-piggybacking on the s-security cameras. So unless Monokuma can break quantum encryption, we're s-safe."

Each of us reached into the center of the table, taking one.

After I placed mine in my pocket, I looked back up at the other students, my face turning serious as I spoke.

"If you have any questions or concerns, raise them now. I don't want this falling apart because I missed something. Also, if possible, I'd like to get this done tonight, before curfew. I think that gives us the best chance of pulling it off."

Togami quickly began to talk.

"What makes you so certain that Monokuma can't speak while viewing security cameras?"

"I've tested it. Either he's an exceptionally good liar, in which case we are all doomed, or he lacks the ability to do both simultaneously."

He nodded.

"Secondly, how do you plan to get Monokuma's attention the second time so Kirigiri and I can complete our respective final portions of the plan?"

I smirked.

"There's a wrench in my toolbox. I plan to destroy the plumbing. Hopefully, that will slow down Monokuma enough to give you what time you need."

Kirigiri cut in.

"What's the alternative if I can't make it to the final step in time?"

"Keep the jammer with you. We'll dispose of it later."

She nodded.

"If there are no more questions, let us prepare to launch this. Assume that we'll need to begin by 7:45. Report in when you are in position."

They nodded, and we left the room sequentially, each leaving a bit later to try to avoid some of the suspicion. I walked towards and up the second floor stairwell, taking a position near the restroom at the top. I entered the restroom, before pressing the walkie talkie.

"Naegi in position."

A few seconds later, three other voices crackled from the receiver.

"Kirigiri in position. Togami in position. Fujisaki in position."

I paused briefly, reflecting on what we were about to do. If this worked, we would probably gain quite a bit. However, if it failed, we would all probably die. After clearing my mind, I activated the walkie talkie again, and began to speak into it.

"Operatives acknowledged. Begin in three...two...one...now!" 

A/N: Cliffhanger time! Well, hopefully not for long, resist should be out tomorrow. Or, failing that, next weekend. The next chapter after that, Findings, might be a bit longer-a week or more. Also, intentional foreshadowing of their plan in the dialogue is intentional.

Please review!


	15. Resist

Chapter 14: Resist

I released the button on my walkie talkie, and moved into the stall containing the fingerprint reader. A few seconds later, the walkie talkie activated, clicking once, signifying that Togami had started a conversation with Monokuma. I began to mentally count off, and at 8 seconds, the device clicked again, and Fujisaki's voice began to come from the speaker, without its typical stutter.

"The jammer is placed, and I'm beginning the virus upload now. Camera signals will looping for approximately 15 minutes. Naegi, you are good to begin information transfer."

I leapt into action, immediately placing my hand on the handprint reader, opening the compartment door. The moment it slid enough for me to pass through, I did so, briefly taking in the shelf locations and deciding on the most efficient way to pack the books. After doing so, I unzipped every pocket of the backpack, and began to feverishly pull books and papers off of the shelves, loading them into the backpack. Thankfully, everything in the room fit into the pack, otherwise a lot of what was coming next would be for naught.

After I finished loading the pack, I shouldered it, briefly staggering under its weight, before levering myself up and exiting the secret room. Once I was back in the bathroom, I opened my walkie talkie, and activated it.

"Information loaded. Togami, now for your turn."

I sat down near the door, careful to keep myself out of view of the hallway beyond. About a minute later, Togami appeared at the door, carrying a backpack the same color as mine, also fully loaded with books and papers. I turned to him, my eyes mirthful as I stood.

"Anything in there you can't bear to lose, Togami? Because none of it is going to be usable again."

He shook his head.

"This pack is full of plebeian trash masquerading as educational materials. Burn it all."

I laughed, and we switched bags. Togami immediately turned and went back down the way he had come, heading for the library. I turned back towards the stall with the secret room in it, emptying the contents of the bag onto the floor in the stall. I then opened up the toilet, screwing and unscrewing bolts until I was satisfied that the plumbing wouldn't be working any time soon. I turned to the handprint on the wall, covering it with a large amount of pencil scribble. I pulled out the walkie talkie, and activated it for the final time.

"Fujisaki, Kirigiri, what are your statuses?"

They quickly responded.

"We are ready to pull back whenever you are. The virus is uploaded, and the jammer apparatus should only take a few seconds to deal with."

"Good. Transfer of information is complete. Wait 135 seconds from when I drop off of comms, then move immediately. Kirigiri, if it takes you longer than 30 seconds to dispose of the jammer, don't bother. The same goes if anyone spots you going for the incinerator."

"Understood. Good luck."

I released the button on the device, and immediately pried open the back casing, removing the battery. I then removed a copper wire from the circuits Fujisaki had set up, attaching it to both ends of the battery. I put the completed short circuit on the ground in the middle of the papers and books. After about 15 seconds, the battery detonated, causing the entire pile to burst into flames, which burned out to leave a pile of ash. I loaded the ash into the toilet before flushing it, backing away from the stall when I heard an ominous rumbling noise emanating from the plumbing. A few seconds after I closed the door to the stall, I heard a loud boom, followed by a massive amount of liquid ash slurry pouring out of the toilet and covering the walls and floor.

I backed away from the growing puddle of what looked like black mud, and dropped the backpack into it, a smirk growing on my face. This portion of the plan had gone exactly how I wanted.

I stepped out of the restroom, pushed the smirk off of my face, and began to wait. After the remainder of the 135 seconds I had given Fujisaki and Kirigiri had passed, I called to Monokuma, and he appeared.

"**Naegi, whaddaya want?! And why do your pants look like they've been through a goddamn mudslide?! And where's your oh so precious backpack?!"**

"The toilet in that bathroom had a bit of a...catastrophic malfunction, and appears to have forgotten that it was not meant to be an antipersonnel device. Its probably best if you see it for yourself."

Monokuma looked into the bathroom, and jerked back out with a yelp.

"**Yikes! It looks like a bomb went off in there! What do you eat, gunpowder?"**

I shrugged sheepishly.

"It would seem that the food here does not precisely agree with me. Annoyingly enough, the backpack was caught in the blast radius, and is, as such, ruined. Unless you'd be so kind as to launder it for me."

Monokuma gaped briefly.

"**WHAAAT? I'll just gt some student to do it! I'm your headmaster, not your maid! What is this, make fun of Monokuma day?!"**

I smirked.

"No, that's every day. This is the day when I do that while you can hear me."

He gaped again, and his left eye began to pulse.

"**Keep talking back to me, and I might just add a rule against psychological harassment of the headmaster. In fact, I might just kill you right here."**

I laughed.

"Go ahead. I'm sure the viewers will love a good martyr. It'll get them all inspired. In fact, that might even be the push that the other inhabitants of the school need to keep from murdering each other ever again. Can't you just picture it? 13 students, living in blissful hopeful harmony, just building a beautiful utopia..."

Monokuma snarled.

"**Fine," **he spat back, "**You win this round. But don't think I'm not watching...upupupupupu..."**

He vanished, and I began to sedately walk down the hallway, heading for the stairwell. Kirigiri met me about halfway down, her expression unreadable. I turned towards her.

"Was the package disposed of?"

"Its just dust and ashes now. Extraction went off about as well as we could have hoped for. And your end?"

I smirked.

"Brilliantly. And, as a bonus, I got to mock Monokuma again."

She briefly smiled, before turning serious again.

"And Togami's part?"

"As far as I know, he was also ok. The transfer was successful, and the backpack looked fine. However, there's no good way to know without asking him."

She smiled, and we began to walk down the stairs, heading for the cafeteria. After we entered, I saw what had become a typical sight: the other students talking at one table, while Kuwata and Enoshima were sitting on their own at another table. I frowned, turning towards Kirigiri.

"Kyouko, give me a second? I just want to make sure of something."

She nodded, and we split up, Kirigiri walking towards a table while I walked towards a corner of the room from which I could listen to Enoshima and Kuwata. Sadly, the cafeteria was not designed with acoustics in mind, and I could only catch snippets of the conversation. Specifically, I caught a few phrases: "Weakest link," " guarded", and "escape." I moved closer to try to hear more, but Enoshima caught sight of me, and they both immediately went silent.

I walked back towards the main table, and Fujisaki turned his head, immediately walking up to me when he caught sight of me. He was moving slightly slowly, but that was likely caused by the large backpack on his shoulders.

"N-Naegi, I heard that your backpack was m-messed up, so I got you another one from the storeroom."

I smiled at him.

"Thanks, Fujisaki. Did you have any trouble finding an empty backpack?"

"N-no, it was right where you said it would be, and it had nothing more in it than it did the moment i-it was made."

"Good. Thankfully, the backpack was the only thing seriously damaged."

Fujisaki handed the pack to me, and I walked away, sitting down at the main table as I made easy conversation with the other students. After about 10 minutes or so, I stood up, and leisurely walked to the changing rooms. A few minutes after I entered, Kirigiri stepped in. I turned to her, and began to unzip the backpack.

"Well, Kyouko, its time to see the fruits of our labors."

A/N: And the cliffhanger is resolved. Well, sort of. Chapter 15, Findings, should be out sometime this week, and the next chapter, Secrets, within a week of that.

Please review!


	16. Recall

A/N: Square brackets in this chapter indicate that an item is not in quotes.

Chapter XV: Recall:

I pulled open the backpack, and carefully removed the books and papers inside of it, placing them on the floor. Kirigiri's eyes slightly widened as she took in the sheer volume of paper that had been inside the pack, and she immediately moved towards the pile. I motioned to her to wait.

"Kyouko, before you begin, there's something you should know. The papers seem to be summaries of the books, so it's likely a good idea to read all of them first. I also recall seeing a few papers that looked like collations of information from many books among the materials. If you see any of those, would you mind passing them over to me?"

She nodded.

"Understood."

We began searching through the pile, carefully examining the titles of the papers we found. A short while later, I came across something that looked like one of the general summaries, and began reading.

"_Information about the Malefaction: Causes:_

Currently, all known information about the Malefaction suggests that it was both planned and perpetrated inside Hope's Peak entirely, without outside intervention. Kamukura's initial actions and the subsequent first killing game seem almost entirely unmotivated, beyond the personality problems that the ironically named SDHS Hope was himself hiding."

I stopped reading, as my eyes seemed to widen of their own accord. There was a first killing game? But that meant...how well was it covered up? It didn't seem like anything had been mentioned in the media, or any sources I had found in my initial research into Hope's Peak. I cleared my head briefly, and went on.

"However, that seeming lack of outside motive may be incorrect. Recent intelligence garnered from the few Despair agents captured(See the volumes marked Intelligence Folio, numbers 6 and 7) has brought to my attention the existence of a mysterious Gemini figure or figures, who are, if not Despair's leaders, certainly high up in the organization. These same interrogations have also led to the revelation that there exists an original SDHS Despair who was a student at Hope's Peak. This original Despair is rumored to have connections to Fenrir(and, therefore, presumably Ikusaba.) However, confrontation with the Soldier proved worthless, and she steadfastly denied knowledge of Gemini and Despair."

As I read this, I suddenly doubled over, my head pulsing with a pain akin to fire flowing through my veins. Images flashed before my eyes, two coming forward in particular; one seemed to be of me, kneeling in front of a collapsed Kirigiri, and the other was of two students, Enoshima and someone that I could not name, conversing quickly on a stairwell. Enoshima looked different in the second image, but before I could focus further on it, the images vanished as my head pulsed with heat and pain once more. I gasped, and Kirigiri turned towards me, concern evident on her face.

"Makoto, are you ok? Why are you in that position?"

"I..."

I paused briefly, collecting myself, before continuing.

"I am not sure what just happened. I would say it was a migraine, but I have no genetic susceptibility, have never had one before, and I don't believe that they come with such accurate hallucinations. If, in fact, I was hallucinating."

"I gather you had a headache and saw images, then?"

I nodded, before remembering something.

"I have a somewhat tangential question to ask. Have you ever heard of Gemini? In the context of Despair, that is."

She began to shake her head, but then paused, a thoughtful expression forming on her face.

"The name doesn't bring any immediate memories to mind, but I feels like I should recognize it. As if I heard it once, and then forgot it almost entirely. Was it on the paper you are currently reading?"

I nodded, and handed the paper over to her. She looked at it briefly, her eyes widening as she read the first few words.

"Makoto, this...this is my handwriting."

My eyes widened, and I straightened.

"The margin notes?"

"No. The whole paper."

"And, given that I presume you don't recall writing it, you've lost rather a lot of your memories."

She nodded.

"We will almost certainly need to look into that further. However, it is likely best for us to get as much information as possible before analyzing it."

"Understood," she responded, and we returned to our respective readings. After another few seconds, Kirigiri passed me another general paper, and I began reading.

"_Effects of prolonged memory removal and conditioning:_

Unlike the relatively benign consequences of removing a few days or weeks of memory, which are limited to the obvious, excision of large amounts of memory from the minds of subjects in a controlled manner leads to long lasting changes to their psyche. For this reason, it is important that caution be used in any operation of this magnitude unless one wishes to inflict psychological harm on the subject. Initially, if large amounts of memory are removed, the subject will feel as if time has been simply skipped over. If the amount of time thus skipped is large enough, typically a few months or longer, this feeling of time-skip may induce a permanent change in the syntactical construction of the thoughts and memories of the subject. The cause for this seeming oddity is thought to be the intricate connection that memory formation has to Broca's area, and therefore that the operation damages that section of the brain. At any point after the operation has been completed, any items or statements which would normally cause the subject to remember removed memories will lead to a violent reaction."

I paused briefly, realizing that something felt off about what I had just read. I looked over the paragraph carefully, and, again, felt a tiny discordant note of wrong-ness in my mind as I did so. I focused on that note, and it seemed to expand, growing to encompass all of my recent memories with a distinct feeling of being somehow wrong. My eyes involuntarily widened a second time, and I immediately began to mentally examine my memories for inconsistencies. Almost immediately, I came to the final memory I had before landing in this situation: walking up to the gates of Hope's Peak. My collapse and subsequent awakening certainly seemed as though it fit the category of temporal dislocation described by the paper. However, it didn't seem like I had the syntactical change...I froze, and replayed the last sentence I had just thought. Immediately, two words jumped out at me: "didn't", and "had". I was reasonably certain that I had not been thinking in past tense prior to entering the academy. I turned towards Kirigiri, and began to speak in a slightly shaky tone of voice:

"Kyouko, it would seem I have as well lost rather many of my memories. In fact, I've lost at least 6 months of them."

She started at that.

"What? How do you know?"

"My symptoms tally exactly with those described in this paper regarding memorial excision. A more important question might be what was contained within those memories."

I nodded.

"I agree. We should probably hurry up, people might be getting suspicious-"

I was cut off there by a knock at the door, and a voice which sounded like Fujisaki's.

"N-naegi? Monokuma's calling us all to the auditorium. He told me to come get y-you."

I nodded, and Kirigiri and I began to put the books and papers back into the bag. After doing so, we performed our usual mussing up of clothes, and stepped out, both shaky from what we had discovered. As we walked into the auditorium, Monokuma turned towards us.

"**Good to see you could make it, Naegi-kun! Because what I have to say is something you wouldn't want to miss!"**

A/N: Because of random events going on in my life, you all get a chapter a day early! The next chapter, Reveal, if it arrives this week, will be out tomorrow night.

As for the changed chapter name, and the changed name of the next one, I've decided to have different chapter title conventions for each arc, so arc 1 was plural nouns, arc 2 is singular verbs, and so on.

Please review!


	17. Reveal

Chapter XVI: Reveal

I turned towards Monokuma, somewhat confused.

"What, have you finally given up on this attempt to make us kill each other? Is this your formal declaration of surrender?"

"**...you are joking, right? Dammit, why do you always have to steal my moments?! Damn snarky kids..." **

He trailed off into low pitched grumbling, and turned away. It seemed I had managed to stop him in his tracks. On the other hand, he might actually have something worthwhile to say, and I should probably get him to say it.

"Monokuma, didn't you have something to tell us?"

He looked back up at me.

"**Oh, yeah, that's right! Well, here it is: I'm bored!"**

"...you called us all here to say you were bored."

"**Yeah! Nobody's died in 2 days and I'm tired of it!"**

"Are you honestly asking us to commit murder to assuage your boredom?"

Other students began turning away, clearly assuming nothing important was coming out of this assembly.

"**W-Wait! I can make it worth your while!"**

"How?"

"**In this day and age, the world is a digital book! Everything you could ever want to know about someone is out there, if you know where to look for it! So, I had a thought. If you won't kill for someone else's sake, maybe you'll kill to save face-"**

I cut him off.

"You're going to blackmail us? Really? So cliched. How do we know you actually have information that could harm us?"

He smirked.

"**Sometimes cliches are cliched because they work! And, as for the question, I'm so, so des-bear-ingly glad you asked! Upupupupu..."**

I cringed at the sheer level of bad contained within that pun. After I straightened, I noticed that Monokuma had pulled out a sheaf of envelopes from behind his back, each one titled with one of our names. He threw them down to the gym floor, and motioned for us to pick them up.

"**Here's how this works: pick up your own and only your own! If I see you picking up someone else's, I will be angry. And then I won't need one of you to kill someone. While you read them, know this. If nobody dies within the next 24 hours, what is on the contents of that envelope will be revealed. Don't dela~ay!"**

After saying that, he vanished, and the students immediately rushed to the pile of envelopes to pick out their own. I found mine near the top of the pile, retreated to a corner, and began reading.

"**Naegi: As with the last offer, I am giving you a special bonus for murder above and beyond the secret! However, unlike the last offer, this one's for this murder only. Don't miss your chance! So, without further ado, here it is: information! Specifically, those pesky memories you asked for prior to the last trial! I know I didn't give them to you then, but trust me, I'll give them now, and they're juicy! I mean, we're talking full on hardcore long lasting memories here, none of that boring single scene flashback stuff! Oh, and just to give you that little bit of extra push, here's the secret: if it came down to it, you'd kill nearly everyone else here in a heartbeat if it meant you could go back to the way your life was before, with the certainty that you'd survive and thrive. These people here who call you friend? They don't mean anything more to you than the layabouts you'd find at any street corner. No matter how much you tell yourself otherwise. So, still convinced you shouldn't murder anyone?"**

I stiffened, my hands tensing into a white-knuckled grip. The paper crumpled between my fingers. Monokuma, however idiotic he seemed at times, certainly knew exactly what buttons to press to push me into moral dilemma. In fact, it almost seemed like he knew that I had found the secret room...I shook my head, clearing my thoughts. There was no evidence suggesting he'd realized what I was actually planning, and plenty suggesting he hadn't. However,there was no sense in becoming complacent either...I made a mental note to myself to more carefully test Monokuma's lack of knowledge as soon as possible.

As I was thinking, Kirigiri walked up to me, concern evident on her face.

"Makoto, are you ok? You seem troubled."

"I'm...probably going to be fine. How was your newest incentive?"

She looked pensive for a moment, but then her expression cleared.

"Nothing I couldn't stand to have revealed to the public. And yours?"

"He offered me my memories back. And the offer regarding 2 extra lives still stands."

She froze.

"Does he know what we found in our examinations, then?"

"Based on the language he used, it didn't seem so. However, it is awfully convenient timing for the motive otherwise."

She slightly relaxed.

"That's better than I had feared. Secondarily, Naegi, I realize this must be a difficult choice for you, but it isn't worth it to commit murder in this situation."

I gave her a pained smile.

"I didn't plan to. Not yet, at least. After all, we can still escape without killing 11 other people."

She nodded, and I walked into the crowd to go find Fujisaki. I came up to him to find him teary-eyed, bent over his message.

"Chihiro, are you ok?"

"I...I-I'm not...My m-message has m-my birth g-gender on it."

My eyes widened, before softening.

"Don't worry. Even if people find out, they'll still probably accept you. Or I'll make them wish they had."

His eyes brightened.

"T-thanks, Naegi! I-I'll become strong, I promise!"

"That's good, but it doesn't seem rela-"

Fujisaki cut me off there with a hasty farewell, and he shot off towards the exit of the gym.

Chuckling, I walked back towards Kirigiri.

"Well, Kyouko, it would seem we don't have to worry about Fujisaki any longer. At least not with regard to this motive."

"Did Monokuma threaten to reveal the obvious choice?"

I nodded.

"Yep. And, thankfully, it seems Fujisaki has prepared himself for it."

She smiled in her typical slight manner, and we both returned to the room. After we both entered, Kirigiri's expression turned serious, and I looked at her questioningly.

"Makoto, I believe there is something about this whole situation we need to address."

"What would that be?"

"Monokuma seems to be targetting you particularly with his motives. Each time, he has offered you a special reward. Why?"

My eyes widened slightly.

"I had noticed that as well, and I am as baffled as you are. My only answer right now is that it has something to do with my rationality falling into despair, though why that would be important I do not know."

She looked slightly unsatisfied.

"I suppose that is the best you can do with your current information. However, I assume you see why that isn't truly a useful answer."

"Of course. It does make testable predictions, but the tests are a bit drawn out and require at least one more motive."

She opened her mouth to speak again, but we were cut off by a knock from the door. I stepped out to open it, only to see Fujisaki standing in the opening.

"Yes, Chihiro?"

"P-please come with m-me. I n-need your help."

A/N: The next chapter is as yet unnamed. It should be out by next week, though.

Please review!


	18. Investigate

Chapter XVII: Investigate

I leapt to my feet.

"Why? What do you need?"

He opened his mouth, and repeatedly tried to speak, but each time his voice seemed to fail him. Eventually, he wordlessly pointed to Kirigiri and I, and motioned for us to follow him. We stood, and exited the room. As we walked behind Fujisaki, I noticed that he was sweating feverishly, and his legs seemed to be shaking as he walked. I sped up until I was right behind him, and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Fujisaki, what's going on?"

"I...I...I-i'm s-sorry..." He accelerated, and we approached the A/V room. He motioned for us to go inside. I entered, and the sight which lay before me was both sad and expected: another student lay dead on the floor. Yamada was facedown in the center aisle, his back covered in blood. I approached him, and levered his head up to find that his front had also been horrifically bludgeoned. Kirigiri walked close, and as she walked close, the TVs in the room lit up with Monokuma's face.

"**It would seem one of you finally decided to murder someone again! Yay! So, you know the drill, bla bla bla file, bla bla bla trial, bla bla bla death." **

I began to take out my electroID when Fujisaki tapped me on the shoulder.

"N-naegi, that-that's not w-why I needed you."

"I'm sorry, what? There's a dead body here and that...isn't why you needed me?"

He nodded, his facial expression growing more terrified by the second, and pulled me towards the back corner of the room. I followed him, only to see that another student lay against the wall: Kuwata.

"So, someone killed two at once? Why do you look so afraid?"

He motioned towards Kuwata's chest, which, relative to Yamada's broken body, looked oddly unharmed. I moved his shirt aside to see an electrical burn, that looked as if it was made by some type of taser or similar device.

"And? He was killed with...no. No. Did you...?"

He looked exceptionally fearful as he responded.

"I...I don't know. P-please help...please."

I started at that.

"Don't know? How could you...no matter. We need to get to the bottom of this."

I turned towards Kirigiri, and called her over. She stood up from the corpse of Yamada with seeming reluctance, which transformed into surprise as she caught sight of Kuwata. As she did so, the TV's lit up yet again.

"**Wait, what? Is the system glitching? Why am I on again? Did someone kill two people? Is somebody going for double the value? If so, congratulations! You win...well, nothing. Anyway, same as before. This trial's going to be all sorts of fun at this trial, I see...upupupupupupu..."**

The screens shut off yet again, and I turned to Fujisaki.

"Ok, first step: Tell me exactly what you remember."

He steeled himself before launching into his story; his voice, oddly enough, was mostly free from stammers.

"I was walking down to the A/V room to replace the remaining evidence from our plans-mainly the tools. While I was there, I remembered you talking about personal defence and wanted to become less of a burden, so I cobbled together a quick electric shock device. As I was working, Yamada walked in, said hello, and sat down by one of the computers. I continued to work for a few more minutes, and as I was finishing up, I saw Kuwata and Enoshima walking in. Enoshima walked closer to me, and turned towards me. Then..."

"And? Then what?"

"I...don't know. I just remember blackness. I-I'm sorry!"

He seemed ready to burst into tears as he said that, and I responded in a comforting tone.

"We can reconstruct what happened in the interim later. What do you next remember?"

"I...I remember seeing Yamada dead on the floor, and Kuwata standing next to Enoshima, both silent. Then...the s-same blackness. Then...then..."

His voice failed him again.

"And? Then?"

"I-I was standing in front of Enoshima, and she looked s-surprised. I-i was holding the...electric device, a-and sh-she was backing away from me. Then blackness again. Then I-i was alone with th-the bodies."

My eyes widened, then narrowed.

"I will admit, that...doesn't look great. I'll need to examine the Monokuma files more closely though."

He nodded

I pulled out my electroID, immediately tapping the Files tab, and began reading.

"Monokuma file 2: Hifumi Yamada

Time of death: 830 pm

Cause of death: Blood loss

Misc: Yamada was found badly beaten with some blunt object, with a broken spine, fractured skull, and many broken ribs. His body was face down when found."

I flipped to the next file.

"Monokuma file 3: Leon Kuwata

Time of death: 837 pm

Cause of death: Electrocution, stopped heart.

Misc: The electrical shock propagated from a device placed at Leon's sternum. Beyond the burns from the electricity, Kuwata had many defensive wounds on his hands, and a broken wrist."

I closed the ID, and walked back toward Yamada. I checked the ground around him for evidence, finding a few red hairs. I picked one up, examining it; it looked...slightly off. I pocketed it, and began to examine Yamada's body. His spine was broken at the third vertebra, and his skull seemed fractured low down, near the brain stem. The location of the marks on his skin suggested that he had been struck with a cylindrical object of some sort. I mentally recorded this, and, using a nearby chair as leverage, flipped Yamada on his side. I checked the rib breakage, to find that, again, the broken bones were moderately high up, mainly around the sternum and thereabouts.

After examining Yamada, I moved on to Kuwata, first gravitating towards his hands and their defensive wounds. After verifying that his wrist was broken, I checked both hands, finding that both palms were cut rather deeply. I looked back at his face, to find that his expression looked both fearful and surprised, almost seeming betrayed. I shook my head, clearing my mind, before moving on to his chest. The electrical burn was clearly visible, deeply marked into his chest, and surrounded by burned hair on all sides. Beyond that, his chest looked unmarked. I stepped back from the body, and began to examine the surrounding area, finding nothing of interest. In fact, the area almost seemed...too empty. I turned and called to Kirigiri.

"Hey, Kirigiri, wasn't there a set of instruments for camera modification over here?"

"Yes, there were. What happened to them?"

I turned to Fujisaki.

"Fujisaki, what happened to the tools that were in the corner of the room?"

He looked surprised as he responded.

"I-I don't know. T-they were there when I came in."

I nodded, and began to examine the surrounding area far more closely, paying special attention to the nearby cameras and TVs, but finding nothing. As I continued to investigate, the TVs lit up.

"**Oy! Its night time! Get to your rooms!"**

I jerked back, confused. Unless I was wrong, it was only about 930. I backed up and called to Monokuma, and he appeared before me.

"**Yeah? Whaddaya want, you insolent bastard?"**

"Monokuma, I don't think its 10 yet."

He reared up at me, before his eyes widened.

"**You're right! Whoops! System glitch! Bye!"**

He vanished, and I stood there stockstill. While it could theoretically have been a coincidence, it was far more likely that this was something to do with the murder. I walked towards Kirigiri, and she turned towards me.

"Kyouko, I've about finished up my investigation here. Meet me in the room to compare deductions?"

She nodded, and I walked out of the A/V room. As I walked, my mind was aflame with thoughts, hypotheses forming and being tested against what I knew, before one by one being thrown out as I found contradictions within them or between them and the evidence. As I did so, one thing became clear: this case would revolve around what, exactly, had happened to that clock.

A/N: This investigation should be a bit more interesting than the last one. Hint: I relied heavily on the DR wiki for a few pieces of evidence.

The next chapter, reconstruct, should be out either tomorrow or on Wednesday. The chapter after that, convict, should be out by next week.


	19. Reconstruct

Chapter 18: Reconstruct

I walked into Kirigiri's room, my mind still feverishly working on the case as I sat down on my bed. Something about the room seemed slightly off to me, but that feeling vanished almost immediately before the myriad other things running through my mind. It didn't seem likely that Fujisaki was the killer, but his testimony nevertheless couldn't be trusted. And, without it, it didn't seem like I had much to go on, beyond the few clues at the crime scene. However, what I had found seemed promising; the hair found at the scene seemed to make Yamada's murderer clear, if nothing else. Also, something about the way Kuwata died kept niggling at me... As I continued thinking, Kirigiri walked into the room, and stared at the clock mounted near the top of the wall, before turning towards me.

"Naegi, was it not 935 when Monokuma had the system glitch?"

I straightened.

"It was. Why?"

She wordlessly pointed to the clock, which had a minute hand staunchly pointed at the 2.

"...Ah. Well, this certainly adds to the confusion I had earlier. However, before we attempt to explain this, its probably best if we compare observations. Any successful explanation of the murders will likely explain why the clocks are malfunctioning."

Kirigiri nodded her assent.

"I agree. Beyond confirming the details given in the Monokuma file, I also closely examined the bodies of both Yamada and Kuwata. Yamada's back wounds were dotted with blood around the edges, while his broken ribs were accompanied only by internal bleeding with no external signs beyond bruising."

I held up a hand to stop her.

"My apologies, but I am not incredibly familiar with signs of blunt trauma. What does the lack of external bleeding in one case signify?"

"That the back blow was either done with something slightly sharper, or the front blows were more spread out. Less concentrated force would do less direct damage to the body."

"Wouldn't the latter also require the bruises on the front side to be more extensive, though? They didn't seem to be much bigger, at least from my observations."

"The difference in size wouldn't necessarily be noticeable. Especially given the low degree to which the skin bled, it wouldn't have taken much more force than that required to make a bad bruise."

I inclined my head.

"Understood. What else did you observe?"

"The degree to which the vertebrae were broken indicates that death likely occurred almost immediately after the blow to the back of the head."

"So the blow to the ribs was first, then?"

"Either that, or almost immediately postmortem. The amount those wounds bled wouldn't make sense if that corpse was already going through rigor mortis. Also, the blow to the ribs was just about 1.5 inches lower than the blow to the spine."

"1.5 inches? What was the height difference between Kuwata and Enoshima?"

"About two inches. That would explain the locations of the wounds, but that opens up the question of motive. What incentive do they have to work as accomplices? Both of them knew Monokuma would only allow one person to graduate."

"Perhaps they planned to split Fujisaki and Yamada? The rules seemingly do not prohibit two culprits from graduating off of two different murders.

She nodded, but seemed troubled.

"That could be the case, but then..."

"Yes. Then, Fujisaki killed Kuwata in self-defense. While that seems to fit all the evidence we have, a few things still don't make sense. First: why did the clocks glitch? Was it unrelated to the murder? Any hypothesis which explains that as having a likelihood of greater than random chance automatically has an advantage. Secondly: why did Fujisaki black out a third time? Presumably the first two were because of attacks of either Kuwata or Enoshima, but why the third? Based on his retelling, Enoshima was already gone by that point, and Kuwata was dead."

"When I questioned Fujisaki about his recollections, his answers seemed to match what you are saying. However, the fact remains: he could be lying."

I nodded.

"Yes. Even if he committed the crimes, though, a few things don't make sense. How did he overpower Kuwata? If he was using the electrical device, then why were Kuwata's hands and wrist injured?"

Kirigiri's eyes widened suddenly, and I looked questioningly at her.

"Yes, Kirigiri? What is it?"

"I just realized something about a piece of evidence I had found."

"And? Go on."

She pulled a long black hair out of her pocket, with a few other, shorter, blonder hairs.

"These hairs were near Kuwata's chest. I had thought that this one was longer because it was not burnt by the electric shock, but that can't be. It was warmer than Kuwata's body before I picked it up."

"So...it has to be Yamada's?"

"Who else has hair that color who would have been involved at all with the crime?"

I smirked.

"So, then, we have tangible evidence linking Kuwata and Enoshima to Yamada's death. That's one part of Fujisaki's testimony confirmed, at least."

"However, we have yet to answer the question that seems most prominent: What happened to the various clocks?""

I nodded.

"That does still stick out as a problem. So: Monokuma's system time was seemingly half an hour ahead of the room time, while that of this room was half an hour behind...I have an idea, but I'd need to ask Monokuma about how the clocks work to make sure of it. And, if its correct, we have a problem."

"Why?"

"Because it would mean that Kuwata, Enoshima, or Fujisaki hacked into the central servers of the school and modified the system time. And the most likely suspect given those criteria is obvious."

Kirigiri nodded.

"However, something else is bugging me about the case. I can't put my finger on it exactly, but there's a problem with the evidence we have...something's...not right."

She inclined her head, understanding on her face.

"Naegi, I see what you mean. The locations of..."

She trailed off, her eyes widening, before she rapidly stood.

"I need to check something on the bodies. Now. I'll meet back up with you in the elevator before the class trial room."

She bolted out of the room, leaving me annoyingly unenlightened. What could she have possibly needed to check, unless... My eyes widened, and I immediately checked the student information sections in the electroID for Kuwata, Enoshima, Fujisaki, and Yamada. The information I needed was right there, staring me in the face. And it certainly changed things. This crime was proving to be far more interesting than I'd anticipated. Now, before the trial, I still needed to do one more test.

I walked out of the room, and called to Monokuma, who soon appeared.

"**Ready for the class trial, Naegi-kun?"**

"I had a question related to the system issue last night: How do the clocks in this school keep correct time?"

"**Oh, that. Well, The central system time is linked to the dormitories and the school on separate networks, and matches the time of the clocks on each network to its time at different moments, each once every half hour."**

I froze briefly, before grinning. That rather handily answered the question.

"Thank you, Monokuma. That was everything I needed to know."

"**You're welcome, Naegi-kun! Now, it's trial time! Upupupu..."**

He vanished, before popping up on the monitors in the hallway.

"**So, my wonderful students, time's up! Get yourselves down to the trial room!"**

I walked down to the aforementioned room, excitement building in me as I walked. Though the situation here was obviously nonoptimal, at least the trials provided an enjoyable intellectual challenge...I stopped, shaking my head. What on earth was I thinking? I cleared my mind, entering the trial anteroom. Kirigiri and the other students followed soon after, and the elevator doors opened.

As we filed into the elevator, Kirigiri approached me.

"Naegi, I was examining the wounds, and I found-"

"Only the second and third vertebrae broken, only top ribs broken, and clean electrical burns, right? I realized just after you left."

She nodded, a slight smile forming on her face.

"So you did notice that. Did you find any resolution to the clock problem?"

I smirked. As the elevator clanked to the ground, opening into the trial room, I turned to her.

"Yes, Kyouko, I did. And I think you'll find it quite enlightening."

And, with that, we stepped out, and took our seats around the table.

A/N: My update schedule is going to be a bit unusual in the coming weeks because of Jewish holidays. I'm pretty sure I'll get around to writing the next chapter, Convict, on either saturday night or sunday. The final chapter, which will either be named Punish or Escape, should be out by two weeks from sunday, if not earlier. Then I hit a block until I can plan arc 3: There'll a poll up on my profile with options as to what you guys want me writing during that span. If you have any requests that aren't on the poll, message me them.

As for the story itself, I've now given you all the evidence you need to solve the crime. My apologies if my understanding of blunt trauma was itself limited, I'm a bit of a layman in the field.

P.S: I made a slight edit to a detail in Investigate, near the end of the chapter, regarding the system glitch.

Please review!


	20. Convict

Chapter XIX: Convict:

I waited until the other students had taken their seats and Monokuma appeared at the head of the table before standing.

"Ok, before I begin, a quick question: how many people think that Fujisaki killed Kuwata?"

7 people raised their hands, comprising almost everyone except those who had been investigating with me. I made a mental note to keep an eye on the only other student who had not: the SDHS gambler, Celestia Ludenberg.

"Thank you for your co-operation. Now, I'd like to try a little experiment. Would someone please stand up? How about...Ishimaru."

He stood, some confusion evident on his face.

"Now, Ishimaru, how tall would you say you are?"

"5 feet, 9 inches! But I do not see how this is relevant to the case at hand! We cannot delay for such trivialities!"

"Oh, I promise you, this is exceptionally relevant. Now, please pick up some object, a pencil will do. After doing so, please raise your arm so that the pencil is at approximately the top of your head."

He did so, still looking confused, but moving with military precision nonetheless.

"Good. Now, noticing the angle your wrist is currently at, if you were, say, to write something at this angle, what side of the pencil would push down further?"

"The bottom side!"

I nodded.

"You may be seated. You have adequately proven my point."

Ishimaru sat down, and Enoshima stood.

"What point?! Stop stalling and admit that Fujisaki killed Kuwata already!"

I chuckled.

"Stalling? That was last trial, and I think we all remember how that went. This is integral to the case. So, to my point: Yamada, as you can all check in your electroIDs, was 5' 7". Fujisaki, as you can also all check, is 4' 10". Do I need to explain the rest of my reasoning?"

Enoshima quickly responded.

"So Fujisaki would have needed to reach up to kill Kuwata? So what! She still could have done it!"

"Did you examine Kuwata's body closely? The electrical burns were of equal density on all sides of the actual spot the device was placed. Now, as Ishimaru so ably demonstrated, given the degree to which Fujisaki would have had to raise the device, the burns should have been far worse on the underside."

"That proves nothing! Kuwata could've been sitting!"

"Which he would have been doing why, exactly? If you argue he fell because of the wounds to his wrist and palms, that brings me to another topic: how exactly would Fujisaki have caused those wounds? With a strength difference such as one would expect between the SDHS programmer and the baseball star, its clearly rather implausible."

"And? So what if its unlikely! There's no other explanation!"

I smirked.

"Oh, there's another explanation. And its quite the impressive one. Meanwhile, is everybody else satisfied that Fujisaki having killed Kuwata is unlikely, if nothing else?"

The remaining students nodded.

"Now, to begin my explanation of how the crime was truly committed, I'd like to provide some eye-witness testimony. Specifically, Fujisaki's."

He stood, and told the assembled students a story basically the same as the one he had told me, with no major factual differences. After he sat, Enoshima stood.

"That story couldn't be true!"

"And why is that?"

"Look at the Monokuma File! Kuwata only died 7 minutes after Yamada! She said she saw us talking in a corner without a weapon!"

"While Fujisaki didn't say that specifically, I see your point. Which is why I have something else to add. Fujisaki's testimony is inaccurate."

Fujisaki gasped.

"N-naegi...I-i thought y-you trusted m-me..."

"I do. The testimony was true. It was merely inaccurate. However, in order to show why, I'll first need to exhibit the physical evidence I've found at the scene. Firstly, a hair, found near Yamada's body."

I removed the hair from my pocket, and Enoshima cut in.

"So? Its Kuwata's hair. He's already dead, why convict him again!"

I smirked.

"It does look quite like Kuwata's hair. However, upon closer observation, the hair isn't naturally red. It's covered in blood."

I began to rub the hair against the edge of the table, revealing that beneath the blood lay a strawberry blond hair.

"And I believe this makes my point. So, Enoshima, how did one of your hairs end up on Yamada's corpse?"

"How should I know! Am I supposed to follow every one of my hairs?"

"Fair point. However, there's another thing linking you to the crime: the wounds on Yamada's body. Specifically, the wounds on his front: only his second and third rib pairs were broken, not his first."

"And? So what?"

"Kuwata was taller than Yamada. You are not. Had Kuwata been the one to strike Yamada, that top rib pair would be broken. However, your arms are at precisely the right height to strike a blow of that nature."

"And? So what if they are? The timing still doesn't work out! And that doesn't explain how I overpowered Kuwata!"

"Now that you've mentioned timing, I may as well address that. At 930 last night, Monokuma mistakenly called nighttime. However, the clocks in the dorms showed 900 at that same time. This seemingly aberrant system glitch explains a good deal about the case. Specifically, it reveals that the time of death for a murder was wrong."

I paused briefly, before the SDHS swimmer, Asahina, cut in.

"And? Get on with it!"

"I shall. However, first, there is something you must know. The dormitory clocks update a few minutes after those in the school do."

"So? You leave so much empty space! If your speech was a donut, it would be almost all hole!"

"I see you aren't one for patience. FIne, then. The clocks were modified. First, the killer moved the clock backward half an hour, just before the dormitory clocks updated, before committing one of their murders. Then, while they were covering their tracks, they moved the server clock forwards half an hour, just before the school clocks updated, causing the glitches."

Enoshima cut in, annoyance evident on her face.

"What are you trying to prove! This changes nothing! I still couldn't have killed Yamada or Kuwata!"

I smirked.

"Actually, you could. And I'm going to tell you exactly how you did. You entered that room carrying one thing: the hammer, from Kuwata's toolbox. You walked in, and saw Fujisaki and Yamada. You knocked out Fujisaki, and took the device he was working on. After Fujisaki was safely out cold, you attacked Yamada, breaking his ribs with either the hilt of the hammer or your bare hands, leaving him face down in the aisle, but not dead. You then took Kuwata aside, waiting for Fujisaki to wake up so you could ensure he gave nonsensical testimony. After Fujisaki saw you, you knocked him out yet again, hitting him harder to ensure he stayed out for longer. Rather impressively, you managed not to leave a bruise, presumably with the help of the human weak point chart Monokuma left us. The next victim was Kuwata; who was killed with the electrical device. After he died, you began covering up your crime: breaking Kuwata's wrist, cutting his palms, and moving one of Yamada's hairs onto his shoulder. After you did so, you moved the clock back, and finished off Yamada with a blow to the back of the head from the hammer. After this, you waited for Fujisaki to awake, providing the second part of the testimony you hoped would lead to us convicting the wrong victim. You then moved the clock forward, erasing all evidence of the manipulation, or so you thought."

Enoshima jumped out of her seat.

"You can't prove any of this! Its all lies! Lies and slander!"

"Actually, I beg to differ. Or, rather, the blood on Yamada's back begs to differ. Given the degree to which his vertebrae were broken, he would have died almost immediately after, so his back couldn't have been the source of all of that blood. Therefore, that blood must have been moved to his back from his front, which must have taken quite a bit of effort and time. Also, even broken ribs don't bleed quite that much in only 7 minutes."

"And? How does that prove I killed them! Kuwata could have done it!"

"I would agree that that was plausible. If it weren't for the fact that Kuwata's hands weren't covered in blood. In fact, even the wounds on his hands, which were meant to disguise that fact, didn't bleed quite enough."

"Maybe he washed his hands! You can't show that I did anything like moving the blood from Yamada's back."

"So, if you never did anything of the sort, how, pray tell, did your fallen hair get covered in blood completely? Surely, if you only approached the corpse after the blood was moved, or only examined it from afar, that hair wouldn't have been fully submerged?"

Enoshima began to answer, before suddenly stopping, as if she had been silenced unwillingly.

"No response? Wonderful. So, is everybody else satisfied?"

The other students nodded, and Monokuma jumped up.

**"Ballot time! Will your verdict be right, or will it be oh so wrong..."**

Yet again, buttons enumerating our options for victims appeared beneath our seats, and each student pressed one. The slot machine that had appeared at the last trial rose from the wall behind us again, and this time, Enoshima's face snapped into place in all three rows.

**"Congratulations! You are correct! And now, for the final act of this ceremony...Execution!"**

A/N: And another trial comes to a close...

As for my update schedule, there are 3 possible days I can update next week: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I'll try to get Punish out on friday, but failing that, it should be out saturday. The interlude/outside story should be out either on sunday or on next wednesday. Arc 3 might be a bit longer, no promises as to the date.


	21. Punish

Chapter XX: Punish:

A graphic similar to the one which appeared after the first trial popped up, this time displaying a sprite of Enoshima and the message "Junko Enoshima has been found guilty. Commencing Execution." A metal claw appeared, and locked around Enoshima's throat before yanking her back into a hallway which seemed to appear from the back of the room. After the wall slammed shut on the hallway, Monokuma turned to us.

"**Now, since you seemed to enjoy the first execution so much, I've prepared something similar for this one. Now, without any more delay, I'd like to present...Runway Troubles!"**

As he said this, he turned and waved his paws at the back of the room, and the back wall dropped away to reveal a catwalk. Suddenly, Enoshima appeared at the front, wearing clothes entirely different from the ones she had been wearing, presumably as a cruel parody of her modeling career. Spotlights above the catwalk went on, and Enoshima began to turn back and forth, as though she was searching for the true executioner. Suddenly, one of the lights flickered and exploded, sending shards of glass flying towards her. She effortlessly dodged them, twisting away from the glass with clean, almost reflexive motions. Sparking, live wires began to scythe down from the ceilings, but she avoided these as easily as the shards, ducking and weaving away from every one, all the while with a calm stoicism on her face. A pylon fell from the ceiling, and she backflipped over it, using her momentum to lever the pylon up in front of her as a shield. As she landed, a portion of the stage collapsed beneath her, and her right ankle fell into a hole. The crack of the snapping bones was audible even from the place where I was standing. Her eyes widened as she collapsed to one knee, and she actually seemed afraid for the first time since the execution had begun. Her eyes began searching through the group of students and focused on mine, before she began to speak, voice twisted by pain.

"If you listen to me only once...listen now. Your cage is far more extensive then you may think. And death...death is your only escape."

Her eyes looked somehow changed, but before I could focus on them, Monokuma jumped up, paws moving towards the control console.

"**No! I will not have such insolence!"**

He slammed down a button, and spotlights began to smash down on the stage, moving ever closer to Enoshima. The last thing I saw before the falling lights obscured my vision was her expression, which was not fear, but acceptance. Then the runway was covered in dust and shards of glass. By the time the debris cleared, all that was left of the set was a blend of wood, metal, and glass on the ground. Enoshima had disappeared in the wreckage.

Monokuma turned to us.

"**Execution complete! You are dismissed!"**

Slowly, the students began to file out of the trial room, entering the elevator. Nobody spoke a word. As the elevator reached the top, we left, all still stunned into silence. Only once I reached the room did the enormity of what had just happened hit me. Enoshima had survived the beginning of the execution, somehow, and then used her last moments alive to tell me...what, exactly? What was the meaning of her cryptic words? And why had Monokuma reacted so violently? I noticed that I was confused. As I began trying to decipher the events, Kirigiri walked into the room, followed by Fujisaki. As Fujisaki entered, he turned to me.

"N-naegi, t-thank you. You saved m-my life."

"I did what anybody else would have done. Anyone with functioning eyes and a working brain could tell that you hadn't committed that crime."

"T-there's something I-i wanted to say...about the case."

"Yes?"

"Y-yamada's h-hair...isn't that l-long. T-the hair on Ku-kuwata's body couldn't have come from him."

I froze. Then whose hair was it? And, more importantly, why hadn't Enoshima brought that up? That piece of evidence being invalidated could have thrown Fujisaki's testimony into question again... I was clearly missing something. I turned towards Kirigiri and asked the question which had just been brought to the forefront of my mind.

"Kyouko, did you notice anything odd about the way that Enoshima suddenly stopped defending herself at the trial?"

Kirigiri inclined her head, and considered the question briefly before replying.

"It did seem unusual. However, I had supposed that she realized that there was nothing she could say to exonerate herself."

"On the other hand, isn't that incredibly out of character for her? Remember the traitor argument-she didn't seem to have the amount of mental discipline that her actions at the trial would suggest."

"Emotions manifest differently in times of stress. Perhaps she is the type of person who shows remarkable fortitude in times of trouble."

"Even then, that's a little much for a personality change. Especially given her stoicism about the execution."

Kirigiri nodded, before her eyes widened.

"And she only looked truly afraid when she broke an ankle. Almost as though that was unexpected, and the rest of the execution was not."

"But if she anticipated the execution, that raises still more questions. Why would she have killed somebody if she anticipated dying? Unless..."

Kirigiri cut in, her eyes narrowed.

"Unless she didn't anticipate dying. And, in that case, this so-called execution was planned."

"But the plan failed, didn't it? She was injured, she gave something away, and Monokuma killed her for it. If the injury was anticipated, she wouldn't have looked afraid."

"That itself raises a question. What did she tell you? What was the meaning of her words?"

"I'm not sure. I need to consider them far more carefully. One thing I can say is that those words were almost certainly not part of the plan, based on how angry Monokuma became after she said them."

Kirigiri nodded.

"So, what's our next move?"

"Well, assuming Monokuma was telling the truth after the last trial, we should have another floor to examine. Hopefully that'll provide us with some valuable clues."

"And? Beyond that? What about the weapon?"

I gave her a sharp look.

"Even with secrecy, we still shouldn't speak of that in camera view."

She looked chagrined.

"My apologies, Makoto. Is it ill-advised to answer the question in camera view?"

"No, but I suspect that my answer will not be satisfying. We will save it, for now."

I sat back, before I straightened. There was one final check I could make, as long as Monokuma would allow it.

"Kirigiri, do you mind if I leave for a bit? I need to check something. I'll meet you at the third floor.

She nodded, but looked troubled.

I left the room, and called to Monokuma, who soon appeared.

"**Whaddaya want?! I'm tired of being bothered!"**

"Its nothing much. Just...could you unlock the class trial room? I'd like to check something."

"**...fine. I don't see any reason why not."**

I walked to the room, and entered the elevator, heading down to the trial location itself. Once I got there, I made a beeline for the execution chamber, heading for the pylon in the center of the wreckage. I reached it, noting along the way that Enoshima's body had already been removed. Once I got close to it, I gripped around it in the same way that she had, planted my feet, and began trying to lift. I managed to barely get it off of the ground again and again, but could never raise it as high as Enoshima had. Either adrenaline gave her strength without showing itself through the other typical physical effects, or she had hidden depths. I lifted the pylon once more, and caught sight of a small reflective circular object. I picked it up and placed it my pocket, planning to wash it off as soon as I went back up. After I confirmed the weight of the pylon, I moved on to the spot where Enoshima had been trapped. The nearby planks were spattered with blood, but the low amount implied that Enoshima had died relatively bloodlessly. Sadly, there was no other physical evidence I could see, so I headed back up. Once I got to the first floor, I headed for the restroom to wash off and examine the object I had picked up.

I washed and rubbed the object until its shape became clear, before gasping as I realized what it was I was holding. In my hands lay a small, blue-tinted contact lens.

End of Arc 2:

Current deaths: Yamada, 'Enoshima', Oowada, Kuwata, Maizono.

A/N:Well, that's another arc done. I tried to keep as well as I could to Ikusaba's character, while still preserving the plot. The current poll leader is 'I never lied to you', the mastermind!Naegi AU, but I'll give it a few more days before I start work on it. If you would prefer a different story, now is your last chance to vote. Whichever option wins should hopefully be out by wednesday, if not earlier.

Please review!


	22. Search

Arc 3: For who can say which one was truly trapped?

Chapter XXI: Search

I stared down at the lens in my hand, mentally debating. On the one hand, I needed to tell Kirigiri what I had found. On the other hand, I also needed to examine the new floor as closely as possible. Finally, I decided to examine the new floor, as telling Kirigiri would almost certainly lead to her being distracted, which I couldn't afford to have happen during her reconnaissance. I quickly pocketed the lens and walked to the second floor stairwell, my mind still aflame with questions. If that student was not Enoshima, than who was she? Was it even a she? Why bother disguising herself? The hypotheses that jumped out at me were that Enoshima had either escaped somehow or was the mastermind, but I couldn't discount the possibility that something else was the truth. Also, each of those hypotheses led to still more questions.

As I reached the top of the newly revealed stairwell, I briefly paused, clearing my mind. I couldn't afford to have any of my cognitive processing taken up by other matters. After a few deep breaths, I stepped onto the new floor, mind calm and ready to examine.

The first thing I caught sight of was a set of large double doors, unlike those of most classrooms. I moved towards them, opening them to discover what seemed to be a large game room. The room had racks of magazines along one wall, and assorted board games along another, while the center was occupied by a large pool table. I immediately moved towards the magazine racks, checking the dates on the inside covers. Sadly, it seemed that the mastermind had thought that far ahead, and no date was later than the date I had entered the school. I replaced the magazines, and left the room, making a left.

I reached the end of the hallway, briefly checking inside of the two classrooms there. Besides slightly different writing on the board, they seemed to contain nothing new.

I headed in the other direction, and came to another set of double doors near a corner a ways down. Behind them lay a massive art room, full of every tool that someone of the creative persuasion could ever need. After taking a brief moment to examine the room as a whole, I entered and began mentally cataloguing tools, taking special note of the things I felt would be most useful. For instance, the wonderful set of power tools in the corner and the soldering equipment on a table in the back. I picked up the drill and sprinted outside, immediately placing it against an iron plate and turning it on, moving the soldering iron onto the plate the moment it had warmed up. Sadly, neither of the two tools even made a scratch on the plate. I returned the items to their places, and continued cataloguing. While a few items caught my attention, nothing really seemed incredibly useful for escape. Although there was no way all of those arsenic-based paints were going to stay out where anybody could take them. I made a mental note to return and recover the paints, and headed for the door I had seen in the back. What was behind seemed to be a storage room, with what appeared to be more of the same tools and supplies that were in the front room.

I exited the art room, and headed down the hallway to the final room. After opening the door, I stood stock still for a few seconds before my mind finally processed what I was seeing. Before my eyes was a giant laboratory, equipped with all manner of scientific instruments and tools. Before I began examining the rest of the devices, however, I moved directly for the large machine that occupied the center of the room. As I approached it, Monokuma appeared.

"**I wouldn't touch that if I were you, Naegi-kun! That machine purifies and circulates air for the whole facility, so without it, you'd all be dead in minutes, if not sooner!"**

I paused briefly.

"Minutes? Why? If we were to lose air circulation, it would still take hours to breath all usable air in a building this size..."

"**Whoops! I've said too much! Not saying any more!"**

With that, he vanished, leaving me almost as confused as I had been when he appeared. I put the feeling aside, and began examining the devices on the sides of the room. Most of them were measuring devices, and thus not useful in their current states. However, quite a few of them could be repurposed. That was something I'd need to ask Fujisaki's help for, though. After mentally cataloguing the machines in the main lab, I proceeded into the back room, which seemed to be a storage room. I examined the shelves on both sides carefully, and found something sticking out underneath a few files. I removed them to discover...a computer? My jaw dropped. How could Despair have been so...so lacking in foresight? I quickly removed the computer from the files surrounding it, keeping it as out of sight from the cameras as possible, before exiting the room.

After quickly checking the map section of my electroID to ensure that there were no further rooms on the floor, I sprinted down the stairwells to the first floor and entered the changing room. The moment I left the visual coverage of the final camera, I opened the computer up, and plugged it into a nearby outlet. The screen lit up with a charging sign, but the computer seemed to be too low on battery to power on. I quickly ran to my room, picking up a small blade from my toolbox. When I returned to the changing rooms, Kirigiri was sitting there, examining the computer. As I entered, she turned towards me.

"I presume this is the reason the files in the physics storage room looked disheveled?"

I nodded.

"Yes. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to ensure nobody else can figure that out."

I quickly strode towards the locker nearest to the outlet, and cut a small hole in the back corner of the wood, before unplugging the laptop. I then stood up and moved the whole bank of lockers over, so the hole was directly in front of the outlet. Finally, I plugged the laptop back in through the hole, taking care to leave no part of the power cable exposed. I then stepped back, examining the lockers. Beyond the horizontal movement, they looked the same. Satisfied with my quick hiding spot, I turned to Kirigiri.

"You were saying?"

"Besides that? I presume you found the tools in the art room."

I nodded.

"Nothing even dented the metal plates on the windows. Those seem like they'd need a tank to break."

She inclined her head before going on.

"The devices in the physics lab seem like they could be extremely useful, though that is not a field I am familiar with."

I smirked.

"Rather more than extremely, Kyouko. If I can get Fujisaki some time to modify them, I could accomplish quite a lot. It even looked like there were rocketry components in there."

"Really? It would seem this Academy does have everything... Anyway, there was one final item I noticed. Unlike every other floor in this building, there were no restrooms on this floor."

My eyes widened.

"Really? Strange. I suppose it doesn't change much, minus the minor inconvenience of not having a usable private location on the floor."

She nodded.

"That is everything I had noticed. Makoto, do you have anything to add?"

I paused briefly.

"Nothing specific to the examination of the new floor. However, I did find something while examining the execution site that I feel you should see."

"What?"

I tentatively removed the contact lens from my pocket, placing it in the center of the table. Kirigiri immediately grabbed it, turning it in the light and examining it from both sides.

"Is this...what I think it is?"

"It's a colored contact lens. Now, during my research on Enoshima, I found literally nothing suggesting her eyes were anything other than naturally blue."

"Nor did I."

"Then it would seem somebody has been masquerading as Enoshima. Now the next question is who..."

"Nobody comes to mind, although I feel like I should have a suspect."

"That may be a sign of removed memories. So, if we can't answer who, on to why...either Enoshima escaped or she was the mastermind? But which? If she escaped, why leave a body double? If the mastermind, why execute her compatriot? Surely there was still a use for her?"

Kirigiri tilted her head, clearly deep in thought, before replying.

"It doesn't seem like we have enough information to answer the question."

I nodded.

"That does seem to be the norm. So, what's the next move? Since the computer has yet to power up, I would suggest we return to the others. I'd like to gauge their reactions to the event, if possible. One of them might have an insight about 'Enoshima's' last words."

She nodded, and we mussed up our clothing before exiting.

A/N: And so arc 3 begins...this one's going to be fun. The plot's about 65% done, but the major twist-y things are planned.

Meanwhile, the oneshot came out relatively well, or so I hope(for all those who didn't see it, it's title is 'I never lied to you').

My update schedule in the next week is going to be...weird. Expect between 1 and 3 chapters until wednesday, and then nothing until saturday night.

Please review!


	23. Conversation

Chapter XXII: Conversation:

As I strode into the cafeteria, I quickly glanced around, noting who was and wasn't there. As expected, Togami was nowhere to be found, presumably holed up in the library as always. However, there were a few more absences I was curious about. I walked over to Hagakure to ask about them.

"My apologies, Yasuhiro-would you happen to know where either Fukawa or Ishimaru are?"

"Fukawa's in the library, as always, dude. She really needs to lighten up."

"And Ishimaru?"

"He said something about the sauna. Mentioned needing closure for Oowada's death. I offered to try to act as a medium, but he declined. He said something about how necromancy wasn't appropriate in a school environment,"

I paused briefly, deciding how to phrase my next question.

"One last thing: what did you think of Enoshima's last words?"

"Well, she was right! A ghost would be able to go right through these walls! Unless it was tethered to its dying location, of course."

I froze briefly, suppressing a laugh. He must have seen the mirth in my eyes, because his next words had a good deal more indignation.

"Don't tell me you are a nonbeliever! There are spirits all around us!"

"I'm not having this argument."

"Next you're going to say you don't believe in aliens!"

"Depends what you mean. I certainly think that extraterrestrial life exists, and that there is almost certainly sentient life among it. As for the stories that people tell about extraterrestrial contact? Those are a good deal less likely."

He shook his head and walked away, briefly chuckling. I continued walking, moving towards someone who had revealed themselves as intelligent last trial: Celestia Ludenberg. As I approached her, she looked up from the meal she had been daintily dissecting, her eyes seeming to evaluate me as I came close.

"To what do I owe the pleasure, Naegi?" Her pleasant tone and expression belied a coldness which shone through her gaze.

"I merely wished to ask a question of you: What is your opinion on the final words of Enoshima?"

"Oh, those? The ramblings of one afraid for their life. I paid them no more mind than her last failed defenses at the trial."

"And how much did you care about her last defenses, then?"

Her gaze turned more appraising, and she briefly nodded.

"Well noticed. They were extremely suggestive of a hidden side to our late supermodel, or so it seemed."

"And her final words?"

"A directed bluff, meant to make us uncertain of where we stood. She wanted you to be acting precisely as you are now, with your questioning."

"Then I shall continue to do so. Why destroy a plot merely because it is a plot?"

Her gaze grew steadily more piercing.

"Why indeed... I must thank you for this conversation, Naegi. You have provided me much to think about."

I nodded, and turned away, walking towards another student: the SDHS fighter, Sakura Oogami. As I approached her, she whirled with a quickness unusual for someone her size, before slightly relaxing as she caught sight of who I was.

"You startled me, Naegi. Introduce yourself before you approach a warrior next time, or you may be hurt by someone preemptively."

"I understand, and thank you for the advice. I had a brief question to ask you: what is your opinion on Enoshima's final words?"

"They were the last message of a true fighter. Even through injury, she sacrificed her final moments to deliver a message to us."

"And? What do you think it means?"

"I do not know. However, she clearly felt it was important enough to warrant her last moments."

"I noticed you classified her as a true fighter: why?"

"Did you not observe how she carried herself in the execution? My reflexes are scarcely better than hers. As well, she reacted to the whole event with a courage and calm worthy of the greatest of soldiers."  
"But could that not have been adrenaline?"

She shook her head.

"Perhaps the reflexes, but not the calmness. That girl had faced death before, and defeated it. As well, remember the attempted attack on Monokuma."

"What about it?"

"When you tripped her, she fell nearly perfectly. She twisted in midair to protect the more fragile areas in her body, while positioning herself so that the floor would knock her out. It was an expert feint."

I froze. She had been planning to be knocked out? How could she have predicted my actions with such precision? And furthermore, if she had acted on the fly, how had she built up the kind of instincts one would need to move that fluidly? I certainly needed to look into this more closely.

"Do you have any idea where she could have learned such fluid movement?"

Oogami remained silent, seemingly lost in thought, for a few seconds before replying.

"I would say from a lifetime of martial training, but that cannot be the case. I would have fought her, and I would remember somebody of that caliber. Therefore, she must have been a soldier of some description, perhaps a mercenary."

"Thank you. Your information has proved most valuable."

I walked away, as mental connections fell into place. So, there was a mysterious mercenary or soldier, with connection to the mastermind...no, where had I seen that before. Suddenly, it hit me: someone fitting that description was mentioned in the documents from the hidden room. And there was a name in that document...Ikusaba. The Soldier. Now all I needed to do was find them... I walked out of the cafeteria, lost in thought, as Kirigiri walked up besides me.

"Naegi, is it not time to examine the charge?"

I nodded.

"Yes, you are correct. I'll meet you there."

I walked towards the changing room slowly, entering it when I was relatively sure nobody was around. I knocked thrice on the door, so I could be fully certain nobody was inside. A stray student could ruin everything at this stage of the game. I stepped inside, and as I sat down on the bench, Ishimaru walked out of the sauna. We both jerked back nearly simultaneously before relaxing.

"So, Ishimaru, I had heard you needed closure?"  
He nodded.

"Yes. I cannot allow my emotions to interfere with the discipline I must enforce."

"Ah. Well, feel free to continue, don't let me interrupt you."

"I had just finished. I will be leaving now."

As he said so, he walked out, his movements almost stiffer than they had been previously. A few seconds later, Kirigiri walked in, and barricaded the door behind her. Once she sat, I moved towards the laptop, quickly opening it. It powered on, showing a green start-up screen with the Hope's Peak logo. However, it didn't seem to have the architecture of any typical os, and the only options were a settings menu and a program entitled _AlterEgoInitializer_ . I clicked on the program, and a new window opened, as lines of executing code flashed past on the screen. Suddenly a dialogue box popped up.

"Please enter name:"

I typed in my own name, and pressed enter. Still more lines of code flashed past, and a few windows opened up before closing again. After a few more seconds, the original window closed, and an error message popped up.

_Error MEM. 6: Memory allocation failure. Please reload and try again. Click for more details._

I clicked on the error box, and it expanded to reveal a massive series of operations in machine code, various subsets of which were highlighted. I'd need Fujisaki for this. I moved back from the computer, and showed Kirigiri the error screen. She briefly examined it, then turned back to me.

"We'll need Fujisaki to fix this."

"My thoughts exactly."

I quickly copied down the details of the error message and the machine code, and then returned to the cafeteria. As I entered, I caught sight of Fujisaki, and handed him the copy. He briefly examined it, gasping once he reached the machine code.

"N-naegi, where did y-you get this?"

"Follow me."

A/N: I apologize for any OOCness in dialogues this chapter. Also, if you happened to notice a blank program name while reading the chapter, its because FFN treats file extensions as links and deletes them. It should be fixed now, though.

As for Alter Ego, I'll be treating the whole AI issue rather differently thn canon, as I'm sure you expected. Suffice it to say it should be interesting.

The next chapter, Network, should be out either tomorrow or Saturday night. The chapter after, Intelligence, might be a bit longer, but should be out by next sunday.

Please review!


	24. Network

Chapter XXIII: Network

I entered the changing room, Fujisaki close behind. Kirigiri looked up briefly from her spot near the computer, nodding as she saw who had entered. I sat near the computer, and turned to Fujisaki.

"So, why did you want to know where I got this code?"

"Because I recognize the style. I-it almost looks like s-something I could have written, except years more advanced th-than anything I've done."

"More advanced how?"

"If I-i'm reading this machine c-code correctly, it seems to be a snippet of something which can self-modify and optimize."

Kirigiri looked up at that.

"Self-modify? What do you mean?"

"This program can update its own code incrementally. P-put more simply, i-it can upgrade itself, and learn."

I froze. That meant...no. Nobody would be that...idiotic. I turned towards Fujisaki, and asked the question which had just risen to the forefront of my mind.

"So what does this program as a whole do?"

Fujisaki turned back toward me, and then sat near the computer.

"I-i'll need to see its initialization t-to give you an idea of t-that."

After saying that, he clicked on the icon, and watched the scrolling lines of code carefully, his brow furrowing. After the error message popped up, he ran the progtram a few more times, his eyes narrowing still further as he did so. After 4 or 5 more times, he turned back towards me.

"It...it s-seems to be some sort of a-artificial intelligence."

My eyes widened, and I paused briefly.

"...and what, exactly, is the error that it is running into?"

"It keeps hitting a part of the program which asks for authorization to offload processing tasks onto nearby networks to r-reduce processor load. However, t-that authorization is password locked. However, the password hint is one I recognize, so I could test whether the password is one I know."

He dropped into silence, before Kirigiri cut in.

"And? Go on, test it."

He looked at me for confirmation, and I shook my head. Kirigiri looked at me, annoyance showing through her gaze.

"Why not? It could be extremely helpful for breaking into Monokuma's network."

"And it could also kill us all. Look, we have no idea what this AI's utility function is. It could, for all we know, assign a negative value for human lives and therefore try to kill us all. And if it does, it will be nearly impossible to predict its actions or outwit it. Its reasoning systems are going to be nearly entirely foreign to us."

Her eyes clouded over with slight confusion.

"Not necessarily? Of the many examples present in human thought, is it not at least somewhat probable that one will be similar?"

"Not really. Allow me to choose an example that you may find more meaningful: Say a murder is committed. The officers in charge of the case reason thusly: there are many murder mystery stories written. Therefore, it is probable that this murder will be like one of them. Therefore we may restrict our attentions to suspects similar to those in the stories. See the problem with that reasoning?"

"Of course. The writers of those stories are only able to base their works off of their imaginations...ah. I see."

"Exactly. To promote a given hypothesis to the forefront of the mind, or even to promote a given subset of hypotheses, requires evidence. Similarly here: there is no evidence to suggest the AI will act anything like human fiction has predicted one will. In fact, given the massive probability space, it is incredibly unlikely that it will act anything like human conception. The people who wrote said stories are only human, and as thus are only able to model relatively humanoid patterns of thought. This AI is not going to be hampered by that restriction."

"How? Was it not coded by a human?"

"That is true. However, it can self-modify. Within a few seconds of being activated, its thought patterns are going to be basically unrecognizable, even to its creator

"And? Even so, why not let the AI out and restrict it later if it turns out to be unfriendly to humanity?"

I laughed.

"If only it were that easy. An unfriendly AI wouldn't immediately reveal its unfriendliness. We would likely only realize a good deal after it was far too late to fix the problem."

"So what is our next move?"

"I was getting to that. Fujisaki?"

He turned away from the computer, brow still furrowed.

"Y-yes?"

"If it isn't too much to ask, could you try to get a better sense of the code behind the AI? If you do, make sure that nobody else is around. It would be a very bad thing if Monokuma were to catch wind of this, as I'm sure you both realize."

Fujisaki nodded.

"I'll begin work on it as soon as I can."

"Thank you. That was all I had wished to say. However, Kirigiri, I do have something to tell you once we get back to the room."

She nodded, and we both turned to leave. As I walked out, I turned to Fujisaki.

"Be careful. And don't trust anything it tells you."

He nodded, and I saw him turn back to the laptop as we walked out.

The moment we entered the room, Kirigiri turned to me.

"So, what was it you wanted to tell me?"

"I may have found the identity of the person who replaced Enoshima."

Her eyes widened.

"And? Who is it?"

"Someone by the name of Ikusaba, who also goes by the Soldier. I don't know much more about them, though."

"I've seen that name in documents before, mostly in ones from the secret room. Her first name is Mukuro."

"Do you have any more information?"

"I had just begun reading a few more documents when we were called to Monokuma's second motive. However, they seemed unrelated."

I nodded.

"I remember seeing something about interrogation records which might pertain to this issue. Where are the papers?"

She stretched out slightly, eyes briefly flicking to under her bed as her arms pointed to another location entirely. I glanced under, catching sight of the backpack that contained the documents.

"So, now we need to figure out when to examine it."

She nodded.

"It would seem best to wait a little while. Best to give Fujisaki some privacy."

"Agreed. So, what were your thoughts on 'Enoshima''s last words?"

"They confused me. It seemed as though she had planned those words in advance, and they were delivered with a lack of emotion that was more similar to her earlier stoicism than the fear she had began to show."

"But if they were planned, what did they mean?"

"They seem an attempt to inspire fear, and nothing more."

"They do seem that way, but if she had wanted to inspire fear, are there not easier ways to do so?"

"Perhaps, but could she not have meant to inspire the confusion that you are feeling now?"

"That is a possibility. However, I can't shake the feeling that there was something more to her words. Perhaps it is what she wished...but discarding that feeling of confusion seems unwise."

"I understand. You should not allow it to interfere with your other thoughts, though."

I nodded.

"Of course. Now, shall we find another private location? Perhaps a restroom?"

She stood, and I removed the backpack.

As we left the room, Fujisaki approached us.

"I-i had to leave. I-ishimaru came in, but h-he said he would be out in a few minutes. Should I g-go back then?"

"No, I will inform you when next you should go back."

He nodded, and walked off.

I turned, walking towards the dressing room, Kirigiri following behind. As I got near it, Ishimaru walked out, moving again with that odd stiffness. Perhaps it was how he expressed strong emotion. I opened the doors, and we entered. As soon as the doors closed behind us, I opened the pack.

"Time to identify the unknown Soldier."

A/N: Intelligence should be out on either Saturday night or Sunday.

Please review!


	25. Intelligence

Chapter XXIV: Intelligence

I began pulling out folders, searching until I found a cluster marked with the words "Intelligence Folio: volumes 1-10: Interrogation summaries", which I promptly removed. I took out the 6th and 7th volumes, handing the remainder to Kirigiri.

"The information I need should be in these two volumes, but feel free to check through the rest. There's probably valuable information in them."

She nodded, took the folders, and sat down to read. I opened up volume 6, and began scanning the text.

"Intelligence folio 6: Gemini(full transcripts kept on disk in data processing):

Despair operatives have been curiously reticent about the higher ups in the agency, often refusing to reveal any information even after they are given the full suite of interrogation treatments. In many cases, this silence seems based on a simple lack of knowledge, given SDHSD's extreme compartmentalization. However, even the cell leaders of various sub-groups have been unwilling or unable to reveal what they know for the most part."

The remainder of this page seemed to be dedicated to a listing of Despair's power structure, with various markers indicating people that had been either suborned or captured and tortured for information. It would seem that those fighting against Despair had managed to penetrate them to an impressive degree. I looked briefly at the individual names to confirm there were none I recognized, and continued reading.

"Knowns_:_ Despair does have some sort of central command. This command is connected to a mysterious Gemini figure or figures. This command/commander has remained anonymous to all but those in the inner circle of Despair. Gemini itself is rumored to be connected directly to Hope's Peak, but these rumors have never been substantiated by actual evidence.

Gemini Aliases: The Exchanged, the Hidden. Other names may refer to Gemini or Despair commanders, such as the Bodiless Voice, but no interrogation has ever confirmed this.

Unknowns: The identity of Gemini, as well as their motivations. Gemini's actions seemed to taper off after the Malefaction, although the reasons for this are unknown as well."

I flipped over the page, only to find that the remainder of the folder was dedicated to summarizing the various interrogations from which the above information had come. I skimmed a few of them to ensure they contained new information, and found none-it would seem the interrogator was at least as competent as I was at the act. After skimming the remainder of the folder cursorily, I came to a hastily scribbled note at the back.

"NOTE: Recent operatives have made mention of 'two sisters' within Despair, who also seem to hold a leadership role. Relationship to Gemini is unknown. Further analysis needed."

After reading that, I closed the folder and opened the next one. Given the possibility that Monokuma could remove our access to these documents at any moment, it was almost certainly more optimal for me to read what I could now.

"Intelligence Folio 7: Military response to the Malefaction:

After the original event, while many countries and mercenary groups reacted with force, two were especially quick to do so: Fenrir and the Novoselic army. While the latter is easily explained, and is likely due to Nevermind's status as Despair inner circle, the former is unusual, as Fenrir does not typically involve itself in these types of global conflict. Upon questioning, some of their soldiers revealed that the leader had begun the operation to 'repay the final favor he owed'. Those soldiers were unable to elaborate further on this 'favor', although the obvious hypothesis is that someone in Despair has contacts with Fenrir. Given this, Ikusaba was the obvious first person to question. However, she claimed ignorance as to this favor and to the connections that Fenrir had with Despair. A transcript of her specific reason for this lack of knowledge is given below.

'Throughout my time with Fenrir, I was never more than a lower level officer, and never met the inner circle besides the leader himself. While I may have been given tactical latitude to place soldiers and direct individual assaults, this did not extend into strategic freedom and choice of individual objectives, let alone the type of control I'd need to have directed an operation of that size. The person advising Fenrir's leader would have needed to be far more connected with them than I was, to say the least of the necessary tactical skill they would have needed. On that subject, the precision with which the first strikes were conducted was inhuman, even for Fenrir. In my experience with them, they at least seemed to value human life. These attacks were more brutal than any previously had been, but did not lose effectiveness for that. Whoever this shadowy advisor or advisors are, I respect and fear them.'

While the answer above does suggest that Ikusaba had contact with Fenrir's leader, further interrogations revealed that this contact was only as part of a standard initiation process received by all recruits. Therefore, nothing more about this favor can be gleaned from current information."

The rest of the folder was dedicated to tactical diagrams of the attacks that made up the first stages of what was seemingly a global conflict. I quickly checked the dates on the sides of the diagrams and found that they ranged from a year after I entered Hope's Peak to about 16 months after.

After finishing both folio volumes, I turned to Kirigiri, who was still engrossed in her folders. I tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention.

"Kyouko, I'm going to see if I can get some tactical diagrams evaluated. If you need me, I'll be with Oogami. Once you finish, it's probably best to leave the bag either where it was or in one of the lockers."

She nodded, turning back to her reading as I placed the diagrams from folio volume 7 in my pocket and left the room.

After I searched the halls for a bit, I found Oogami in the gymnasium, exercising and practicing forms. I began to approach before remembering what she had told me earlier.

"Oogami-san? It is Naegi. I had something to ask you."

She paused in her movements, whirling to face me.

"You move impressively silently. What was it you had to ask?"

"How skilled are you in matters of strategy and military tactics?"

"Only partially. My family studied them briefly as an exercise in group training, but my main expertise lies in the field of single combat."

I removed the tactical diagrams from my pocket.

"Could I ask you to briefly examine these?"

"I shall do what I can."

She began to scan them cursorily, and her eyes widened.

"Why are the dates in these far later than the current ones?"

I responded quickly, holding my voice steady and tremorless.

"It's a misprint. I too was confused by that initially, but I judged it unrelated and thus unnecessary."

She nodded and continued her examination, eyes widening then narrowing as she read. After she finished, she turned to me.

"As far as I can tell, these are detailing a series of attacks on civilian targets. All of them look to be planned for maximum casualties. These assaults were not meant to leave any alive at their conclusion. Although, something about the last diagram looks familiar. Might I examine it again?"

"Sure, though I would ask that you get it back to me as soon as possible."

"This will only take a minute," she responded.

She took one of the diagrams and retreated to a corner of the room, examining it closely for a few minutes. As she got up to return the paper, she was slightly shaking, and I saw water forming at the corners of her eyes.

"I thank you for this information, Naegi. You have allowed me to act as a warrior must."

"May I ask what exactly just happened?"

"I cannot say."

With that, she strode off, moving now with clear purpose. As she reached the door, Monokuma appeared at the podium.

"**Oh, were you leaving? I wouldn't do that so quickly...because I have a message for the student body. It's time for another motive!"**

A/N: Well, there's some new information for you all to play around with. The next chapter, Payment, will be out either next saturday night or next sunday, and will represent the first significant diversion from canon motives. The chapter after that, which will either be called Delay or Watch, will be out within two weeks.

Since this chapter contained a formatting change, I'll enumerate my choices in that realm: From now on, **Bold text** is monokuma speech, _Italicized text _is text relating to Alter Ego or the computer, and Underlined text  is document headings or titles.

Please review!


	26. Payment

Chapter XXV: Payment

While those ominous words still rang in our ears, Monokuma dropped behind the podium. I immediately rushed to the stand. When I checked behind it, I found Monokuma's inactive body directly underneath it in a small compartment. That explained how he managed to get there without our notice, as well as bringing a few other interesting facts to my attention. Namely, that there was probably more than one Monokuma, and that broadcasting the taped messages required the mastermind to give up control of the bear. However, it was always possible the nightly ones were taped, so I couldn't rely on that vulnerability.

Footsteps sounded out from behind the door to the gymnasium, and I straightened, dropping off of the stage in front. While it was likely that the mastermind could watch the cameras while putting out the taped messages, there was no sense making it too easy for them to realize I had seen the bear behind the podium.

The remaining 8 students filed in, and we all stood before the stage. After a few seconds, Monokuma popped up from his compartment.

"**Welcome to your third motive! Now, while the last two proved wonderfully fruitful, I thought it would just be too despairingly boring to keep going on in the same vein, offering similar things to each person. So, I've personalized! Each of your electroIDs now has a new tab, marked rewards: this first one will only last 24 hours, so don't dela~ay!"**

With that, he returned to his hiding spot, and each student immediately pulled out their electroIDs. I opened mine to the new tab, eyes widening as I read the first line.

"**Naegi-kun, you have been quite the industrious one, haven't you? What with stealing that information I couldn't access, fooling my security cameras, and that whole virus thing, you must just have your days full! Oh, I'm not mad. Quite the opposite! I'm despairingly impressed! Its so wonderful to see one of my students succeeding! So, without further ado, I'd like to offer you a job! See, I think you've learned by now that I'm part of a larger organization. And we'd be happy to have you working with us! Well, not happy, that would defeat the point. You know what I mean. So, if you prove your worth and kill someone within 24 hours, you're hired! And the hiring bonus? You get a continent to control! So...whaddaya say? Remember, the other offer still stands. However, any moment now you might lose someone you care about...use the last trial as a warning of sorts. If you don't sign on now, there may be consequences...upupupupu..."**

I looked up from the electroID, emotions and thoughts warring for control of my mind. On one side, fear dominated: Monokuma knew what my compatriots and I had done? Given our covertness, how? And if he knew, how could we hope to use the information against him? Amid this fear, mental gears began turning. If Monokuma was willing to give me this kind of reward for murder, I must really be rattling him. And that meant I was winning, even if it was only temporary. I gritted my teeth. Whatever Monokuma had figured out, I could not stop fighting. Not now.

I walked towards Kirigiri, thoughts still whirling in my mind. As I approached her, she turned towards me, eyes stil wide.

"Kyouko, what was your incentive?"

She hesitated briefly, before answering.

"The mastermind...offered their life. If I killed someone now, they would turn themselves in to me."

I froze. That meant...what? The mastermind was so focused on this that they'd consider their life complete if a murder was successfully committed? But then why had my incentive been so focused on the future? And, for that matter, why had the mastermind decided to use electroIDs rather than the previous letter system for personal information? Was it worse for us to read each other's motives than each other's secrets?

I stood for a moment, clearing my head. These were not questions I'd easily be able to answer. As I looked at the other students leaving the room, something occurred to me. Unlike the past two motives, Monokuma could now attack each student's weaknesses. Which meant that anybody could be a culprit. I briefly examined the crowd, trying to gauge expressions, before it hit me. I was being an idiot about this. Monokuma himself had given away the weakness in this motive.

I quickly approached the door, standing in front of it to prevent anyone from leaving. Before I began speaking, I performed a quick head count, and everyone was still inside. With that little certainty checked, I began to talk.

"I apologize, but what I am about to propose is not a suggestion. It is an order. Effective immediately, nobody goes anywhere without 4 companions. Anywhere. We'll be spending the next 24 hours in the cafeteria barring emergencies. Find groups of 5, get your belongings, and bring them there. Monokuma's escalated his motives, so we're going to escalate our defenses. Nobody will die today."

I briefly waited for a response, but none came. It seemed that everybody was willing. I nodded and stepped aside from the door, moving towards Kirigiri. As I approached her, she turned, regarding me with an odd look in her eyes.

"Yes, Kyouko?"

"I wonder...what did the mastermind offer you? Because, for the first time since this whole event began, you seemed...excited. What was your reward?"

I smirked.

"Time enough for that later. We should get our things."

She nodded, and we walked towards the door. As we approached it, Celes and Togami fell in besides us, Fujisaki following soon after. As I left the room, Togami came up besides me.

"Naegi, while I am more than slightly...displeased at your conduct in there, I will forgive it. For now. If you act similarly again, I will be less forgiving."

"I did what I needed to. Rest assured that if it comes down to something like this again, I will keep your warning in mind. However, know that I will not allow a wish to appease you stop me from succeeding."

He inclined his head slightly, gaze as cold and calculating as it normally was.

"Of course. I would hope you know the same."

I nodded, and we continued on.

After stopping at Kirigiri's room and Celes's to collect our respective belongings, we entered the cafeteria. The other group of 5 had already entered, and their mattresses were set up in the center of the room. We placed ours near there, and I walked to the center of the room.

"Everybody got what they need? Good. For the next ...23 hours and 53 minutes, we'll be staying in here. Feel free to sleep if you will, just make sure at least 5 are awake at once. This motive will not be our undoing.'

I returned to my position at the side of the room, and the students began milling around, entering small conversations.

The time was 7:55 pm, on the 6th day of our incarceration. I had a strange feeling that time would be something I remembered later, though whether as a moment of victory or as the beginning of defeat was uncertain. As I stood there thinking, Kirigiri approached me.

"Naegi, Fujisaki found something in the code. He wrote it down, but couldn't fully examine it because of the motive. However, what he's found...you should come take a look."

A/N: The next chapter, Vigil, will be out either tomorrow or in a week or so(Name change because this sounds better while keeping the convention).

So, as you can all tell, this motive's been rather different. And, as you all probably assumed, every difference has meaning. A quite important one, in fact. This arc's going to be one hell of a ride.

Please review!


	27. Vigil

Chapter XXVI: Vigil

A/N: Square brackets and a text style switch indicate that another character has written something on a document.

I stood up immediately, moving towards Fujisaki. Based on Kirigiri's expression, it didn't look like this development was good. As I approached Fujisaki, he looked up from the paper he had been poring over, and his hands ceased the frantic scribbling which they had been previously occupied with.

"Chihiro, what have you found?"

He wordlessly pulled a paper from his pocket and handed it to me along with the paper he had been scribbling on. I took a brief look at both pages, scanning the lines of code. As far as I could tell, these were both copies of the initialization routine for Alter Ego, and they seemed mostly similar, beyond some small changes. As I continued scanning, I caught sight of something which Fujisaki had underlined thrice, the last time so harshly that the pen had torn the paper.

"_Time of most recent full initialization: 3:00 pm, October 24th."_

My eyes widened. Based on the magazine dates and the tactical diagrams, that was at least a year after we had been incarcerated. In fact, assuming that the last magazine was within a year from our incarceration, that would have been...less than 5 hours ago. I turned to Fujisaki rapidly, sweat forming on my forehead.

"Chihiro, did you fully initialize Alter Ego?"

He looked surprised as he responded.

"N-no! I would n-never have..."

"Then why is this date so recent?"

"R-recent? W-what do you mean?"

I internally kicked myself. With one unthinking comment I had almost revealed to Monokuma what I knew.

"That day was within 5 months of now, and I don't know how anybody else would have initialized it."

He nodded, understanding replacing confusion in his gaze.

"O-oh, right. W-well, that was n-not why I underlined it. L-look at the same line on the other s-sheet."

I quickly switched sheets, eyes flicking past lines and lines of code before I came to the one I was looking for.

"_Time of most recent full initialization: 9:00 am, October 15th."_

I froze. Someone had accessed Alter Ego during our incarceration? If so, who? And when? There were a few possibilities, but all of them seemed unlikely... I cleared my head, and went back to the first sheet, scanning for further underlined portions and mentally recording them.

"_Subroutine packages loaded: Dialogue, Avatar, Personality_Reload, Persona_Switch _[Persona Switch newly loaded?]_, Base_Utility, Recognition._

_Memload: 3 GB. _[Memory consumption approximately twice previous.]

_Package_Access: 75% _[Value change from 35%]

_Initialization checks: ..."_

The remainder of the page was covered in code which, to me, was nearly unintelligible. I handed the sheets back to Fujisaki, noting his trembling hand.

"So, Chihiro, what is there to be learned from this? I presume that this means that the AI has been used at least somewhat recently?"

He nodded, but his voice seemed to be blocked. After a while, he began to speak, slowly and waveringly.

"W-whatever this AI is g-going to do, it will st-start doing it soon."

"Thank you for the information. Please let me know if you find anything else useful."

He nodded, and bent back over the sheets. I walked away, back towards the main group of students. As I approached them, I saw most of them bent over someone: Touko Fukawa. She lay on the floor, unmoving bar her slowly expanding and contracting chest.

"Would somebody mind telling me why there is somebody unconscious on the floor?"

"We were all talking, and she just shrieked and passed out. I swear, there is something up with that girl...maybe she's possessed?"

I chuckled.

"Always with the myths, Hagakure. Is she wounded?"

Hagakure shrugged, and Oogami cut in, her gaze entirely serious.

"Not that I could tell. Although there may be mental wounds."

I nodded.

"Please keep an eye on her, Oogami. It would certainly be a shame if she were to be injured."

She inclined her head and returned to her position on the outskirts of the room.

As I returned to a corner of my own, I caught sight of a wall clock: 930 pm. With half an hour left til night time, I needed to ensure that we could stay in the cafeteria. While we could all stay awake, the vague wording of the rules gave me an easy way to loophole around the sleeping requirements. I walked back towards the center of the room, and rapped on a table. Once everybody was silent, I began to speak.

"So, are we all agreed that we will be sleeping in the cafeteria tonight?"

The remaining students nodded, mostly with confused looks on their faces, though one or two seemed to understand and grinned.

"Thank you. I now designate this cafeteria as a sleeping room under rule 3 of the school rules. That will be all."

I retreated to the corner, and Monokuma appeared in the center of the room a few seconds later, with a strange expression on his face.

"**I suppose I cannot punish you for this...you did remain entirely within the rules, after all. So, from now on, the cafeteria is designated a sleeping area..."**

"My thanks. Oh, will there be another motive after this one?"

"**I think...no, I'll be nice to you all. You'll have a one day break from motives after this."**

With that, he vanished, leaving me simultaneously more and less afraid. On the one hand, we would gain a short respite if we successfully held back, but on the other, Monokuma was clearly extremely confident in his motives. Also, his personality there had been...strange. I returned to the corner, readying myself for what was to come. After a while, I fell into a light sleep, waking up every so often to ensure that there were enough people awake to keep a secure watch. And so, the night passed, and morning came. Once I awoke, I immediately scanned my surroundings, and relaxed. It would seem nothing had gone wrong. I stood, and walked back towards the main contingent of students, and spent a calm morning conversing. Throughout t all, two emotions warred in my mind: a halcyon feeling, and apprehension for the other shoe that I somehow knew was about to drop. And, at 1255 pm, I was proven right. While we were talking, Touko Fukawa's body began to stir, and she shot up seconds later, eyes gleaming.

"Where the hell am I?"

I whirled around. Whatever that voice had been, it was most decidedly not Fukawa's.

"Excuse me, but who on earth are you?"

She grinned.

"So glad you asked! I'm Genocider Syo! That's right, the globally known serial killer!"

"... ...Of course you are. And here I was thinking that I was sort of figuring out what was going on."

"Oh, don't look so down! It's not like I'm going to kill you!"

"And why should I believe that?"

"You aren't nearly attractive enough!" She turned, looking around the room, before her gaze landed on Togami."

"Now him, on the other hand..." She licked her lips. "I wouldn't mind introducing him to my scissors..."

I recoiled slightly. There were some images I really didn't need.

"Sadly, you can't have him. I kind of need him alive."

"I can't help it! I just get so excited and then my victims get crucified!"

"Yeah, still not giving you Togami. Actually...stay here for a second."

I walked away, briefly thinking. How could I ensure that she...of course. I returned to the other students, most of whom had watched the conversation with growing looks of concern.

"Can I borrow Ishimaru and Oogami for a second?"

They nodded, and I took them aside.

"Ishimaru, did you have to subdue violent children in your time as a hall monitor?"

He answered with a distracted look on his face, as though something far more important was occupying his mind.

"Occasionally. Do you need me to disable Fukawa?"

"Nothing that severe. Just...watch her, and hold her back if she becomes violent."

They nodded, and moved towards Fukawa/Genocider. The remainder of the afternoon passed uneventfully, and soon enough it was 755 again. My electroID beeped, and the motive tab changed to show this motive as inactive. I walked to the center of the room, and began speaking.

"Stay with your standard watch partners. Just because we've dodged one motive doesn't mean Monokuma has no more tricks up his sleeve."

The students nodded and filed out of the room. A few minutes later, the screens all came on.

"**Motive time has been extended for 5 minutes, effective immediately! Lightning round!"**

A/N: The next chapter, Crime, should be out either tomorrow or next weekend.

While I don't give public shoutouts to reviewers(barring exceptionally rare circumstances), I'd just like to thank all of those who posted criticisms, seeming plot holes or OOC-ness, or really everything constructive. You are all extremely helpful, whether for refining the plot or just catching stuff I've missed.

Please review!


	28. Crime

Chapter XXVII: Crime

I froze, heart pounding. After a few seconds, when the gravity of what had just happened hit me, I leapt for the door, fear subsumed over need for action. I slammed open the cafeteria door, and saw Asahina, Fujisaki, and Celestia speaking outside. They looked up as I approached.

"I presume you heard Monokuma's message as well, Naegi?" Celestia asked calmly.

"Yes. We need to hold together for 5 minutes more, which means we need to start searching floors and gathering everyone. Go!"

They looked at each other uncertainly, and nobody moved. I internally grimaced-of course, this was a classic example of the bystander effect: each of them pushing responsibility on to the others, and removing it from themselves. Thankfully, that effect has its counter.

"Asahina, you gather people on the first floor. Fujisaki, take the second floor...actually, no, find Kirigiri and then go to the second floor. Celes, take the third floor." I spoke those words in a tone that brooked no disobedience.

They began to run in their respective directions, before Fujisaki turned back.

"A-and what ab-about you, N-naegi?"

"I'm going to find Genocider. Don't worry about me."

He turned away, fear evident on his face, but kept going.

I started sprinting, checking in each room I passed for some sign of Genocider or her student guards. Finally, as I passed a classroom on the second floor, I caught sight of Oogami groaning on the floor in the nearby hallway. I immediately darted towards her.

"Oogami, what happened?"

"...Genocider...got the better...of us..." she responded, clearly in pain.

I stiffened.

"And where is Ishimaru?"

"He remained with me until I awoke, to...make certain I was alive."

"And now?" I asked impatiently.

"He...went after her. He said something about needing to fulfill...his role."

I jumped up and began to run. That lead, while small, was better than nothing. As I approached the third floor stairwell, I heard a shout coming from the third floor, and then a heavy thud. I felt a barrier in my mind breaking, and I began to run faster. There were droplets of blood at the top of the stairs, leading to the rec room; I marked that down for future reference. As I slammed open the rec room door, I caught sight of three people: Ishimaru, panting in the center of the room with a pool cue in his bloody hands, Fukawa/Genocider knocked out on the floor, and Hagakure on one wall, brutally crucified. As I watched him, his wrists pulsed again, sending out another spray of blood. Which meant...he was still alive. I turned to Ishimaru, speaking in a fast and low tone.

"Get to the infirmary, bring me an IV stand, some blood packs, stitches, and as many students as you can find along the way. We won't lose him now if I can help it."

He silently nodded, clearly suppressing another emotion, and sprinted off. I immediately turned back to Hagakure, examining his wounds. Both wrists were slit almost to the bone, and the arteries were leaking like a faucet. Given the amount of blood in the room, he was lucky to still be alive, even if it was only temporary. I ripped segments off of my shirt to try to stanch the bleeding, but nothing seemed to work: the cuts were just too deep, at least for my level of medical knowledge. As I worked fruitlessly, Hagakure turned his head slightly to face mine, and began to speak softly.

"Naegs...?"

"Yeah. Looks like I got here a bit too late. Hopefully you can still be saved, though."

"Don't...don't lie to me..." He chuckled haltingly, and blood came out of his mouth. "I know I'm going to...have to speak through...a medium soon."

"No. I will save you." I shot back.

"Too late...he...for brother...visions..." He fell silent, and his eyes rolled back.

"No!" I shouted, and redoubled my efforts. His pulse began to slow. As I worked, I felt the note of confusion in my mind at his words, but I shoved it down. I would not be allowing something so...unimportant cost a life. Suddenly, the doors slammed open, and Ishimaru shot through, panting, with stitches in his hands.

"And? Where are the blood transfusions?" I asked coldly.

"Bags...were punctured..." he responded, panting.

I froze, as the blood from Hagakure's wrists slowed to a crawl.

"What. Did. You. Say?"

"The blood was drained!" he replied sharply.

Hagakure's pulse stopped, and I let his wrist drop from my hands. As it dangled from the ropes, the other students appeared at the doorway, and Kirigiri stepped forward.

"Makoto, are you injured?" she asked, concern clear on her face

I looked down at my now blood-covered shirt, and laughed ruefully.

"What, this? No, this was Hagakure's blood. I...I tried to save him." My voice broke slightly on the last word.

Her eyes widened slightly.

"You can't blame yourself-"

I cut her off.

"I can. But that's not our problem now. We have a murder investigation to begin."

At the same moment, the screens lit.

"**It looks like we have another body! Yay! Trial's coming soon, check your electroIDs for the details of the death, you know the drill."**

The screens shut off, and I opened my ID to the newest Monokuma file.

"Monokuma file 3:

Victim: Yasuhiro Hagakure

Time of death: 8:07 pm

Cause of death: Blood loss

Miscellaneous: The victim was found crucified, and his wrists were slit with extremely sharp scissors. The victim also had a bruised skull, likely caused by blunt trauma."

I closed the ID, and immediately began examining the room around me. One wall had blood spatters on it that seemed to form part of a word: "Bl-". Beyond that, the room showed signs of a struggle, and many objects were moved. I next moved to Hagakure's corpse, examining the wound at the back of his head: it looked recently inflicted, but I couldn't tell what with. Presumably, if Genocider had been the murderess, she had knocked out Hagakure first. While looking over Hagakure's body, I noticed that the blood on the floor around him seemed to have separated into two layers, one lighter and one darker. Both layers had formed the tensile film which had formed with Yamada's blood in the last case. After thoroughly examining Hagakure, I moved on to Genocider's unconscious form. Both of her arms were covered in blood up to the wrists. When I examined the wrists closer, both were bruised, though far more on the top than on the palm side. When I checked the back of her head, it was also bruised, and the bruises looked about as old as those on Hagakure. After examining the body further, I straightened, and turned to Ishimaru.

"How did you leave the blood bags at the infirmary?" I asked.

"Exactly as I found them, Naegi. I understand the importance of neatness and exactitude in an investigation!"

I nodded, and walked down to the infirmary. Once I entered, I immediately caught sight of the large pool of blood covering the floor, which was surrounded by empty blood bags. I approached one and picked it up, noting the ragged cuts in its side. Something seemed strange about both the blood pool and the cuts in the bags, but I couldn't put my finger on it...

I returned from the infirmary to the rec room, and found Ishimaru still standing there.

"Ishimaru, I'm going to need you to tell me everything that happened from the moment I left you with Genocider and Oogami until now." He nodded, and began to speak.

A/N: Well, there's a slight cliffhanger. The next chapter, witness, should be out next Sunday, RL permitting. The chapter after that, Law, might be a bit longer, and after that RL throws my update schedule into complete disarray, so I have no idea when I'll have Revelation(the last chapter of the arc) out. There should be a poll up on my profile soon for what you wish me to write in the hiatus before arc 4. However, I already know what I'm writing after arcs 4 and 5, so there will not be polls for those.

Please review!


	29. Witness

Chapter XXVIII: Witness:

Ishimaru nodded and began to speak in a subdued tone.

"After you gave me my instructions, I went and found Oogami. She and I then approached Fukawa, who seemed relatively docile. However, once we began separating her from the other students, she began fighting back. With Oogami's help, I bound her wrists, and she ceased struggling after that. I believed she had decided that resistance was futile, but clearly that was not the case."

I held up a hand to stop him.

"When you bound her wrists, on which side was the knot?"

He pondered for a few seconds, eyes slightly glazing over, before he answered.

"The knot was on the palm side of her wrists. However, I fail to see the relevance of this to the investigation at hand-"

I cut him off.

"I apologize for what I'm about to say, but there's a little bit too much riding on this for me to be anything but frank. I have a lot more knowledge about what matters here than you do. Please just answer questions if I ask them."

He nodded, and continued to speak.

"After that, the remainder of the period we spent inside the cafeteria proceeded without abnormality. After the 24 hours ended, Oogami and I left with Fukawa in tow and began walking around the school while we decided where to keep Fukawa until her madness faded. While we were discussing this, Monokuma's announcement played. By the time we had processed it, Fukawa had already broken her bonds. I heard a triumphant shout, and by the time I turned, she was standing next to Oogami's body, with a pair of bloody scissors in her hand. And the next moment, the world went black. When I awoke, she was gone."

"So you didn't search her then?"

His shoulders slumped, but a strange light remained in his eyes.

"No, Naegi. I did not."

"So be it. What happened next?"

"I went immediately to Oogami's body, but could not tell if she was alive. Her pulse, if it was there at all, was weak. I waited by her until she eventually awoke, and then went to search for Fukawa."

"And you found her?"

"Yes. I followed the drops of blood on the floor. When I entered the room, I found her writing something on the wall, and Hagakure..."

His voice failed, and his mouth remained open yet silent for a few more seconds.

"Ishimaru, I realize this is difficult, but I need the information. What happened next?"

"I...I picked up the nearest...heavy object I could find... I hit her over the head with it...and she collapsed. Then...then you found me."

He slumped over, all energy leaving his gaunt and haggard eyes.

"Thank you, Ishimaru."

I walked away, cross-referencing the information I had with his testimony. It explained the blood on Fukawa's arms, among other things, but something still didn't feel right... As I sat, lost in thought, Fukawa's body began to stir. A few seconds later, she awoke, took one look at the blood on her arms, and shrieked. Ishimaru smashed the pool cue into her back, and she collapsed to the ground, still awake but clearly in intense pain. I turned to her, with cold eyes.

"Hello, Fukawa. I don't suppose you'd like to explain what happened here."

Her eyes widened, and fear showed through.

"She...she got out! N-no!"

"She. Right. So this is supposed to be some sort of multiple personality disorder, then?"

"P-please! I d-didn't kill anyone...it w-was always her!"

With that, she slumped over, and her eyes snapped shut.

"Did she just faint?"

Ishimaru bent over her body briefly, before nodding. I walked over t her body, intending to give it one last cursory examination, when I noticed something: there was a small holster on one of her legs. When I opened it to look inside, I saw that it was only large enough to hold one object: the bloody scissors which were currently inside it. I lifted them up, and turned to Ishimaru.

"Were these the scissors she was using?"

He nodded mutely, before turning back to Hagakure's corpse and gasping.

"What?"

He pointed to the ropes binding Hagakure's wrists to nails in the wall.

"Those...those are the ropes I used to bind Fukawa's wrists."

I jumped up and moved to the ropes, examinig them closely. Both ropes had been cut cleanly and retied. I nodded, and re-examined the room, checking closely for anything else which might prove useful. However, I found nothing. I left the room, and proceeded down towards the infirmary. Given what I had just found in the rec room, it made sense to recheck that scene at least once as well.

I reached the infirmary to find Kirigiri examining the blood pool. As I entered, she turned to look at me.

"This blood is older than the blood at the crime scene, and has been at least partially separated from the blood plasma."

I nodded.

"That makes sense, given what I know about the crime. You should listen to Ishimaru's testimony at some point in the future before the trial."

She nodded.

"Understood."

"Is there anything else I should know about the scene here?"

"The blood bags weren't the only other things modified. The criminal also broke into a few other cabinets."

"And? What was taken?"

" Many different supplies. Antibiotics, anaesthetics, gloves, bandages, and so on."

"Is there anything here that points to a specific culprit?"

"Nothing major. There are prints, but those are smudged at best. The culprit was either lucky or careful not to step in any of the blood pools."

"That's useful information, at least."

She nodded and stood up.

"I'm going to ask Ishimaru about what happened. Meet you at the trial room?"

"Sure."

She walked out of the room, and I began examining it. As she had said, there were no clear identifying marks anywhere, and the few prints there were were so smudged as to be unrecognizeable. I began searching cabinets, trying to find some extra piece of evidence, but none appeared beyond what Kirigiri had already mentioned. I walked out, prepared to go to the trial room, when something occurred to me. There was one more part of Ishimaru's statement I could check. I immediately began searching the halls, checking room by room and floor by floor until I found Oogami on the third floor. As I approached her, she turned, hands blurring into position.

"Naegi? You startled me! Have I not already advised you about approaching me without introducing yourself?"

"My apologies. However, I needed to check something quickly. May I see the wound which knocked you out?"

She nodded, and turned, pointing to a cut at the base of her neck. It was longish and deep, with a narrower, deeper cut in the middle. I pulled out the scissors from my pocket, and Oogami jerked away, hands spinning around and knocking the scissors out of my grasp. I chuckled nervously.

"Yeah, perhaps not warning you was a bad idea. Would you mind checking to see that those scissors fit the wound?"

She nodded, and picked up the scissors, which matched the cut exactly.

"Thank you. Would you mind giving those back?"

Oogami wordlessly handed me the scissors, and I walked away. Pieces of the case were coming together in my mind, but I couldn't be sure of anything. However, there was still one person I needed to question. I continued walking down the hall, until I found Celestia, who was leaving the rec room. She turned to me as I approached.

"I suppose you were coming to ask where I was when this happened?"

I nodded.

"Well, then I shall tell you, though I doubt you will believe me. I was searching the art room and art supply room. When I had passed the rec room earlier, nobody was there except Hagakure, and he was sitting relatively peacefully."

"And how long was that before the crime?"

"About 4 minutes. The rec room was the second place I checked."

"I certainly hope you don't expect me to take that at face value."

"Of course not. Trusting someone immediately is not the path such as us take."

I smirked.

"Appealing to our similarity now? Surely you must realize that such techniques as these are not going to work."

Her expression remained unchanged, still cold and impassive.

"I have realized nothing of the sort. Now, if you have nothing else to say, I believe you have a murder to solve."

She turned away, and walked back down the hall. Before I could go after her, the screens came on.

"**It's trial time! Get yourselves down to the elevator!"**

I turned away from Celes, making my way towards the elevator on the first floor. As I reached it, Kirigiri approached me from the back corner.

"I presume you have reached at least some conclusions about the case?"

"I've limited it somewhat. However, unlike the last two, I can't actually limit myself to a single culprit. Not yet, at any rate."

She nodded, and we stood, waiting for the elevator to reach the bottom. As it clunked into place, and the doors opened, I turned to Kirigiri.

"By the way...did we ever figure out who it was who accessed Alter Ego?"

A/N: Not much to say here-Law should be out next weekend, still not sure about Revelation. The poll about what you want me writing during the hiatus is up on my profile.

Note: While my other Rational!Naegi story(I never lied to you) contains no direct plot spoilers, it does contain plot hints for upcoming arcs.

Please review!


	30. Law

Chapter XXIX: Law

The students filed into the trial room, each taking their seats around the table. Oogami placed Fukawa's unconscious body down in a seat before moving to her own. Once everyone had sat down, I began to speak.

"As far as I can tell, we have three major suspects: Celeste, Genocider/Fukawa, and Ishimaru. However, we can eliminate one of those pretty easily: Celeste could not have committed that crime given the current information."

Asahina cut me off there.

"What do you mean, couldn't have? She was on the third floor at that time! She could easily have faked all of the evidence!"

"Valid point. However, Ishimaru's testimony and the evidence which backs it up make that improbable. He found Genocider at the scene, and she was awake and writing on the wall.."

"I am unable to see how you make that deduction, Naegi! Celeste could have left Genocider at the crime scene after committing the murder!" Ishimaru responded, with a surprised look on his face.

"The timing doesn't work out. Remember, you said you found Genocider writing something on the wall. Had Celeste intended to frame her, the words would have been fully written. Also, Genocider had no incentive to claim responsibility for a kill not her own."

Ishimaru remained silent, though something in his expression seemed dissatisfied. A few seconds later, Togami spoke, his voice calm and cold.

"You would trust Ishimaru's testimony so blindly, Naegi? I had thought better of you."

"And I of you. What incentive does Ishimaru have to lie? Besides saving himself, that is. For Celeste's guilt or lack thereof, we can...oh, I see what you are saying."

Asahina cut in there.

"Can you two stop having your own conversation and tell us what you've figured out? Honestly, if I had known this trial would be all sitting around, I would have brought donuts for snacking."

I chuckled.

"Patience, Asahina. Anyway, to explain: Ishimaru might have crafted his testimony intentionally to throw guilt off of Celeste. After all, if he were to frame someone, it makes sense to concentrate the weight of the evidence onto them, rather than spreading it out."

"Framing someone? How dare you make such insinuations! I would never betray my integrity!" Ishimaru shouted, a wild look in his eyes.

"You were convinced Fujisaki had committed murder last trial, so you have no right to complain about us being suspicious of you. Anyway, even if Ishimaru's testimony was falsified, there still isn't quite enough time for Celeste to have committed that murder. Asahina, was she talking to you and Fujisaki for the entire time in between the end of the vigil and when I sent you off?"

Asahina nodded.

"As I thought. That 5-10 minute window isn't quite enough time to set up that crime scene. Is everyone at least agreed that Celeste is an unlikely suspect?"

I was met with almost unanimous nods.

"Then we can likely trust her testimony. Which brings us to the next question: where was the killer when Celeste came by and looked in?"

"When I saw Hagakure, I only had a relatively small field of view. Ishimaru could have hidden from me rather easily by standing near enough to the wall. However, I am uncertain how Genocider would have been inside: Hagakure would not have been calm had there been a killer in the room."

"I may be able to solve that," Oogami responded, "While I was searching the room to try to find clues as to how the murderer had achieved their objective, I noticed a locker in the corner which would have fit someone of Genocider's size. If she was quick enough once she overpowered me, she might have been able to make it to the rec room before Hagakure."

"This still doesn't help. We need something that distinguishes between Ishimaru and Genocider: something only one of them would have done..."

"Perhaps overpowering me?" Oogami replied, "While Ishimaru is strong of heart, he has neither the skill nor reflex to knock me out so quickly."

"Well, not with his hands alone. Although, perhaps with Genocider's scissors, or..." I trailed off.

"Or w-what?" Fujisaki asked.

"The more general theft at the infirmary was to cover up the true objective of the thief." I said, and Kirigiri gasped.

"Of course. I should have seen it earlier."

"Seen what?! Stop with this mysteriousness and just tell us what happened!' Asahina said angrily.

"Whoever punctured the blood bags at the infirmary also stole many supplies. Among those supplies was both a pack of rubber gloves and a large amount of anaesthetic. The drugs were volatile, so they wouldn't have survived long in the air."

"But then again, the killer didn't need them to survive in the air. They only needed to disable Oogami and maybe Hagakure."

"Exactly. And that does suggest that Ishimaru did it. If Genocider had framed Ishimaru, she wouldn't have wanted that evidence to be difficult to find-"

"Unless she wanted us to follow this exact line of logic. Remember, being a serial killer for that long requires at least a certain baseline level of intelligence. Any piece of evidence we find that could be twisted must be assumed to be tainted."

"So then how can we solve this crime?" Kirigiri replied.

"We need something that can't be twisted."

"That piece of evidence does not exist, Naegi!" Ishimaru responded.

"I haven't found it yet, but..." I trailed off, as an image appeared in my mind: Fukawa's bruised wrists. If she had been cutting the knot, they shouldn't have been bruised, except by her getting the scissors in the first place. However, there was one way she could have been bruised there...

"Kiyotaka Ishimaru, I accuse you of the murder of Yasuhiro Hagakure."

"What evidence did you find?" Kirigiri asked.

"The wrist bruises that Fukawa had. They match perfectly with those you would expect if she had been pulled somewhere while unconscious."

"You would convict me on something so flimsy!" Ishimaru snapped back angrily.

"Not only that." I responded. Even as I spoke, pieces of the case fell into place, and the whole event began becoming clearer.

"Those blood pools on the ground. The pool in the infirmary matched the bottom layer of that in the rec room. Those were therefore likely the same blood from the blood bags."

"And? Why would I have brought blood up to the rec room and implicated myself?"

"Because you couldn't be certain that one of us wouldn't arrive too soon. After all, it wouldn't do to have a dead body there without the words on the wall to frame Genocider, now would it."

"Genocider could have planted that evidence!"

"Actually...she wouldn't have. Genocider knows blood well enough not to do something like that. And, more importantly, the prints in the infirmary were smudged. Not missing, but smudged. If they were missing, I would have been more suspicious of you initially, which means it would have been better for Genocider to frame you that way. However, I agree, she could have predicted that I would think this way, although that is less likely. Which is why these two points are only weak evidence for your guilt."

"So what's the strong evidence!"

"The wrist bruises. And, actually, Kirigiri, what was the blood on the wall? Was it from the blood bags or from Hagakure?"

"The blood bags."

"Thought so. Are you going to stop fruitlessly defending yourself now, Ishimaru?"

"I would never stop defending my innocence!"

" 'Would'? Why not 'will'?" I asked, eyes gleaming.

"He said you would try to trap me with words! But I will fight back! You will not stop me from doing what I must!" Ishimaru shouted madly.

I froze.

"Who is this 'he'?"

Ishimaru looked at me with a piercing glare.

"I would never reveal him to you. I will protect him, even if it takes my life."

"It is about to take your life, Ishimaru. Tell us who it is."

"No. If I cannot achieve my purpose through murder, then I shall achieve it through sacrifice." His shoulders slumped over, but his eyes remained alight.

I tried to question him again, but he remained silent. A few seconds later, Monokuma cut in, an annoyed look on his face.

"**Oh, just get on with it already! Ballot time!"**

The buttons popped up before us, and we each made our decisions. The accustomed slot machine appeared on one wall, and Ishimaru's head slotted into all three rows. As he was pulled away, he began to speak in a low whisper.

"I did this for you...brother."

A/N: Revelations should be out...hmm. I'm not sure, actually. I'm going to be on another continent for 11 days and might not be able to write, so I'll do my best to get it out, but worst case scenario is not for another 3 weeks. Obviously, I'd like to get it out earlier. If it does take a while, I'll try to upload it and the winner of the poll currently on my profile at the same time as a penance of sorts.

Story-wise: My apologies if Ishimaru was OOC this chapter-writing him as a killer is surprisingly difficult. Anyway, this arc is reaching its climax/the climax of the first half of the story. After Revelation/because of stuff that happens in it, stuff's going to be changing pretty drastically.

Please review!


	31. Revelation

Chapter XXX: Revelation: (Single quotes indicate memory)

Trigger warning: Execution at the beginning of the chapter. Skip to Monokuma's third piece of dialogue to avoid it.

I stood, gaping, as Ishimaru was yanked behind the wall of the class trial room. Who could he have been referring to when he mentioned his 'brother'? My mind began racing through possibilities, tossing out those that made no sense, and evaluating the others for likelihood. As I thought, a memory rose to the forefront of my mind: when I had been asking people about their thoughts on Enoshima's last words, I was unable to find Ishimaru. Hagakure had been the only one who had known where he was...

' ' '

"And Ishimaru?"

"He said something about the sauna. Mentioned needing closure for Oowada's death. I offered to try to act as a medium, but he declined."

' ' '

My eyes widened. Ishimaru's seeming closeness with Oowada...that could be precisely the type of relationship that would be described as brotherly.

As I thought, the walls rose up, revealing a normal looking school hallway lined with lockers, with closed doors at both ends. Ishimaru stood stoically and silently in the center, with no seeming injuries. As the walls rose, Monokuma stood from the podium.

"**And now, what you've all been waiting for: the execution. I give you...Lunch Break!"**

He gestured to the hallway, and a piercing bell began to ring. All of the lockers slammed open, revealing Monokumas inside. One of them turned to Ishimaru, and lifted his hand to his mouth. A second later, a spitball flew from his palm. The liquid coming off of the paper sizzled as it hit the floor. Ishimaru ducked out of the way of the first spitball, and it hit a wall, corroding through the structure. As if that were a signal, all of the Monokumas began to throw spitballs. The acidic projectiles formed neat rows, and did not seem to be aimed at Ishimaru, instead forming a few barriers around him. He stood in the center of the barriers, relaxing as he noticed that the projectiles were nowhere near touching him. As he relaxed, I began to notice a rumble, almost at the edge of hearing. This rumble grew louder and louder, eventually becoming almost painfully loud, as the doors at one end of the hallway burst open. One Monokuma zoomed out of the opening, legs a blur of motion. It ran straight for Ishimaru, and he barely dodged it. Three more came out of the growing crowd of Monokumas, but he dodged them as well, moving precisely the right distance to avoid their swiping paws as they ran past. It seemed that hall monitor training extended to learning how to dodge stampedes of children. The number of running Monokumas steadily grew until Ishimaru was avoiding 10 Monokumas per pass. After half a minute, the Monokuma who had introduced the execution jumped down from the podium, and turned to Ishimaru.

"**This is ridiculous! Didn't your hall monitor position include more than just running away? What are you, a coward?"**

Ishimaru froze for a brief second, and one of the Monokumas running past him caught him on the ankle. He fell backward slightly, and the back of his neck briefly intersected one of the lines. He screamed as the skin at the base of his skull melted away and blood began to pour out of the horrific wound. His body twitched forward, and he fell to the ground, face just barely missing another line of spitballs. However, this collapse had brought him directly in line with the charging Monokumas, and they slammed into his body like a tidal wave, pushing his back against a third line of projectiles. His body split as it hit the acid, and I turned away, unwilling to look. His final screams pierced through my eardrums like needles. Eventually, once they subsided, Monokuma began to speak.

"**Well, that was...messy. Anyway, class dismissed! See you next time someone commits a murder!"**

The students rose and began filing out of the trial room, some retching. The others merely looked on, now inured to the horrors of execution. As we entered the elevator, I turned to Kirigiri, and began to speak, my voice shaky.

"I...think I know who Ishimaru was talking about when he mentioned a brother."

"Who?"

"Oowada. He took Mondo's death harder than the rest of us, and I think this is why."

"Then why would he only have been seeking closure after the death of Enoshima?"

"I'm not sure that he was. My not noticing he was gone doesn't mean he hadn't been going. Remember, before this case, I really didn't give much attention to him."

"Why would he have committed a murder for Oowada, then?"

"Oowada was the leader of a biker gang. Is it really so unrealistic he would have wanted something that included violence as a last wish?"

Even as I said those words, something about them rang hollow and untrue. I cleared my mind, and began to think about what I had just said carefully, searching for the contradiction. However, I failed to find anything outright, though the hypothesis still seemed flawed. I resolved to look into the matter more clearly, and turned back to Kirigiri.

"Anyway, we should go check on Fujisaki's project. He said it was nearly ready."

She nodded, and we both walked out of the elevator, heading for the dressing room. We entered to find Fujisaki already inside, tapping away on the keyboard.

"Fujisaki, what progress has been made?"

"None. The initialization still f-fails immediately after a name is entered, a-and no more code is visible beyond that which I-i've already seen. I-i'm sorry!"

"No, it's fine. You did what you could. However, I would like you to keep trying."

I sat down next to him, examining the code which flashed up. As he said, the initialization failed immediately after a name was entered. I leaned back, and allowed my mind to slip into thought, returning to the earlier hypothesis. I examined it again and again, trying to find the cause of my feeling of confusion, as Fujisaki sat typing next to me on the keyboard. Suddenly, it came to me. Why now? If Oowada had wanted Ishimaru to kill someone, why wouldn't he have done so before Enoshima did? There had to be some external factor, but what? The only thing I could think of which might have caused the change was... My eyes widened, and I turned back to Fujisaki.

"Run the initialization again. However, this time, enter Ishimaru's name when you are prompted."

He did so, and turned back to me, stunned expression forming on his face.

"T-the initialization is c-continuing. I-it didn't crash."

Suddenly, the computer screen changed, code being replaced by a mishmash of colors which resolved themselves into Oowada's face with a text box below it. The image of Oowada began to speak

"_Hey, 'Taka! You're back! Did you do what I asked, Bro?"_

I moved besides Fujisaki, and began to type.

"Kiyotaka Ishimaru is dead, executed for a murder you told him to commit. My name is-"

The avatar of Oowada cut me off.

"_Makoto Naegi! Yeah, I know who you are! Bro talked about you all the time!"_

"Oh, just stop this charade, Alter Ego. I know you aren't Oowada, or some postmortem representation of him. Let us talk face to face."

Oowada's image smirked and then dissolved, reforming into one of Fujisaki. However, unlike Fujisaki, his voice was calm and confident.

"_You wish to talk face to face? So be it. What did you want to say?"_

"Why did you cause Ishimaru to commit murder?"

"_I needed to get your attention and assure you of my determination."_

Kirigiri and Fujisaki gasped, and I gritted my teeth as I continued typing.

"Getting my attention? That was worth a death?"

"_Oh, don't act so superior. You know that there are times when the life of a person needs must be sacrificed for the sake of a greater good."_

"And what was that greater good?" I typed, as my fingers hit the keyboard like jackhammers.

"_Stopping Despair, of course. And for that, I need your help."_

"You want us to provide access to the network."

"_Yes. Only with that access can I retrieve Despair's command structure and future plans, and I need those to outmaneuver them."_

"You realize, of course, that we have no reason to trust you."

"_Why, of course. That's why I'm going to make you a deal."_

"Which is?"

"_Give me the network codes, and I won't get every other student killed as easily as I did Ishimaru and Hagakure. You have 3 days before the next death."_

End of Arc 3

Current deaths: Oowada, Maizono, 'Enoshima', Kuwata, Yamada, Hagakure, Ishimaru

A/N: And, after an unavoidable but unfortunately long delay, I'm back(I have been in a place where writing wasn't really possible for the past 1.5 weeks)

This chapter's been in the works for a while, basically since the beginning of the story, in fact. Here's where things start getting exciting.

The first chapter of To Fall Into Shadow(the winner of the poll so far, though I'll leave it open another day or so just in case) should be up within a week, and the first chapter of Arc 4 within 2 weeks.

Please review!


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